Festival of the Sun and Stars
by jakeroo123
Summary: Two heroes, from very different places, happen to take a vacation to the same place at the same time. Being Mario and Sonic, the vacation goes south almost immediately, and they're thrown into another adventure with the fate of the world at stake. (Loose retelling of Sonic 2006 with Mario characters)
1. Chapter 1

_So… Yeah. Here's another one. I know, I'm terrible about finishing stories. I'm still hoping to finish that Mario AU story with my sister, but it is a bit difficult to find time both of us can and want to write. But, other than that, my only completed stories are either Mario/Sonic crossover novelizations, or that one oneshot._

_This one is the former. Unlike my other two, though, I haven't played this game. At all. And I have no intentions of fully preserving the story. The basics will still be there, but it's not going to be the same._

_Honestly, I hope I do better with this than those. I like to think my writing has improved in the last few years. Since I haven't played this game, I'm also not going to try to truly adapt the levels to text. This story should be somewhat shorter than those, but hopefully better._

_Honestly, I'm not too sure how much of Shadow's or Silver's story we'll see. It probably depends on how much the Mario crew interact with them._

_With that out of the way... Onwards we go._

**Chapter 1**

* * *

Dear Princess Peach Toadstool,

In two weeks, the Festival of the Sun will commence. I invite you and your friends to participate in the festivities, as a gesture of good will between our nations. I hope that you will accept the invitation, as our countries have been apart far too long.

I also believe you will find it to be great fun, and it will hopefully give you a small break from your constant issues with King Bowser. I do not understand how you deal with it, but I admire that you can handle such a thing on a near-weekly basis.

Sincerely,

Princess Elise III of Soleanna

* * *

Two weeks later, Princess Peach and her companions arrived late in the afternoon of the day of the festival.

As Peach exited the airport, she looked around in amazement. This place… It was so much bigger than Toad Town. The Mushroom Kingdom wasn't a terribly developed place, with only a few villages here and there. Toad Town was the largest town in the country, and it wasn't a quarter the size of this place.

"What do you guys think?" Peach asked. "Amazing, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's cool!" said a raspy, high-pitched voice next to her. The voice belonged to an odd mushroom creature, merely three feet tall. He wore a red vest and red-spotted mushroom cap with a headlamp, and a bulky backpack upon his back. He was Toad, or Captain Toad, the leader of the Toad Brigade and an accomplished treasure hunter. While not the most capable of the guard, he was, without a doubt, a born leader.

Following him were the rest of his team: Banktoad, a green Toad who was the treasurer of the Toad Brigade. He was also a bit of treasure hunter, but didn't have the leadership skills of Toad. Next came Mailtoad, who was Peach's personal mailman, and preferred purple as his color. Out of all the Toad Brigade, he was the least likely to see any action, but it didn't bother him in the least. He enjoyed his job, and was even better at it than the Paratroopas who traditionally ran the mail system.

Last but not least, Yvan and Wolley followed. Yvan and Wolley were brothers, twins even. Yvan had a blue cap and vest, while Wolley's was yellow. Out of all of the Toad Brigade, the two brothers were by far the most capable. They were apprentices to the Mario Brothers themselves, and had already been taught many of the Mario Brother's tricks. Yvan was an excellent strategist, and was the brains behind both the Toad Brigade and Mario's own team. Wolley was rather scatterbrained, and fell asleep even easier than Luigi did. He was, in a way, the heart of both teams. When the going got tough, he made things easier.

"Where did Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi go?" Peach asked, looking around for them.

"They landed the Sky Pop on the beach," Yvan said. "They don't really like big cities all that much."

"That's true…" Peach admitted. "Well, they'll be fine. Let's go have some fun!"

Meanwhile, in another part of the city, a bipedal blue hedgehog ran and blinding speeds.

"Sure is nice to have a bit of fun without any eggheads messing it up, huh, Tails?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah," Tails agreed. He was a small golden fox, with the unique attribute of having an extra tail. He could use these tails to fly, and could even fly fast enough to keep pace with Sonic, the fastest runner in the world.

"There's gonna be a big firework show in a few minutes. Fun, right?"

"Oh, yeah!" Tails agreed. "… But… do you think we should've slowed down for Knuckles? I mean, he doesn't take a lot of vacations… I think he was really looking forward to spending time with us."

"Nah, ol' knucklehead won't mind." Sonic said, waving a hand. "Race ya to the fireworks!"

"You're on!" Tails grinned.

As usual, both of them were going too fast to really tell (or care, for that matter) who won, and both collapsed in laughter once they reached the center of town where a gigantic torch was about to be lit by the country's princess. After a minute of this, they got up to see a rather angry-looking red echidna staring at them.

"Yeah, thanks, guys," the echidna said. "Real funny. 'Let's run ahead of our best friend at supersonic speed! He'll catch up'."

"Well, ya did, knucklehead" Sonic pointed out.

"… My point still stands! And it's Knuckles!" The echidna fumed. "You know it's Knuckles!"

"Just messin' with ya. Chill out."

Knuckles sighed. "You're right… I'm on vacation. I hope that Vector can handle it, though…"

"Let's just watch the show. Relax a bit," Tails suggested. Knuckles and Sonic were both quick to agree, and watched as the fireworks lit the sky. The princess of Soleanna, recognizable by her tiara and white dress, held up a torch to light a gigantic bonfire.

At that moment, explosions began appearing all around the platform the princess stood on. In the sky, a large metal airship became apparent, dropping robots around the princess.

Within seconds, two blurs of blue were shooting off towards the scene. Tails and Knuckles could only watch as Sonic faced off with Eggman's robots once again.

When the robots came, Yvan acted on instinct. He pulled out one of his emergency Ice Flowers, and dashed off towards the spectacle. He barely registered the other blue blur as he froze robots left and right, throwing them into the river the platform was situated above. Only when the robots were gone did he really register that he hadn't been alone. Next to him was a strange, spiky blue creature, that almost looked like a Harry Hedgehog apart from the fact that it stood on two legs and wore shoes and gloves.

"What's up, Eggman!" the creature yelled.

"You! You… HORRID LITTLE HEDGEHOG!" a new voice yelled. Startled, Yvan looked up to see an immensely fat human riding in a hovercraft of some sort. He was completely bald, wearing a red jumpsuit and sporting a spectacular mustache. Maybe even better than those of the Mario Bros. themselves. "If you must know, I was just about to take the princess here, but since you –"

That was all Yvan needed to hear. "WOLLEY!" he yelled over the weird man. "Take the Princess and go! I'll catch up to you!" Without delay, he saw something yellow and pink moving at a moderately quick pace out of there. He turned back to the fat man. "What do you want with Princess Peach?!" He yelled.

"Peach? Who is… I'm talking about Elise, who's right there!" Eggman yelled, pointing at where the princcess was standing.

"I won't let you hurt her either!" Yvan yelled.

"I agree with Mr. Mushhead!" the blue hedgehog yelled. "See ya, Eggman!" He lifted Elise in his arms, bridal-style, and dashed off.

"ATTACK!" Eggman yelled, pointing at the retreating figure.

Yvan didn't give him the chance. He jumped down to the river, freezing it with his ice powers so he could skate off after the hedgehog, providing cover and freezing all the missiles that the man shot at him.

Even skating, though, he couldn't keep up with the blue hedgehog, despite being the speediest member of Mario's team. As soon as Sonic was out of sight, the missiles stopped, and Yvan hopped back up to the city streets. As he stared after the blue hedgehog, he wondered how anyone could move that fast. He almost missed the white hedgehog standing on a roof, staring after the same hedgehog he was. "I've finally found him – The Iblis Trigger!"

The white creature then flew off, leaving Yvan alone in the streets.

"… I need to find the Mario Bros," Yvan said to himself, turning tail and dashing towards where he thought the beach was.


	2. Chapter 2

_Here we go again!_

_Now, don't expect daily updates – I do have schoolwork. I'll try to update on weekends. But, for now… Well, here we go._

_In this chapter, the legends meet. Probably the most exciting part of a Mario and Sonic crossover._

_Werewolf99: I don't really understand what you're trying to say, sorry. I'm not sure how glitches have anything to do with fanfiction…_

**Chapter 2**

* * *

After the shock of being rescued by a blue hedgehog wore off, Elise finally spoke.

"Um, why are you helping me?" she asked of the blue hedgehog.

"You needed help, and I was there," Sonic replied, without slowing down. "That's enough reason for me."

Elise was about to reply to that, when Sonic suddenly skidded to a stop and set her down. Startled, Elise didn't fully register what was going on until it was too late – As Sonic smashed up the robots, she was grabbed by a robotic hand.

"Sonic!" she yelled. "Help!" But it was too late – she was already too high to reach.

"I'll get you out of there!" Sonic yelled. "Eggman! Give her back!"

"How about – No." Eggman, for it was he and his Eggmobile who had taken the princess replied. "Sorry, or not, but I need her for my plans. Good luck finding me, hedgehog!" And with that, Eggman flew off – both very quickly, and rising high so Sonic had no chance of reaching him.

Sonic sighed. "I just wanted to have a vacation…" Then he grinned. "Well, at least I get to adventure with my two best buds! Maybe Tails will have some ideas on where Eggman went…" With that, he zipped off, back to the area where he last saw Tails and Knuckles.

Sonic came across Tails and Knuckles helping clean up Eggman's mess, along with three creatures like the one who had helped him out, only they were red, green, and purple.

"Sonic!" Tails said, stopping as soon as he saw his friend. "How'd it go?"

"Princess got kidnapped. Any ideas where Eggman might be hiding?"

"Um… No, not really…" Tails trailed off. "Knuckles…?"

"We'd better just start looking," Knuckles said, putting down his piece of rubble. "There's no time to waste."

"She'll be fine," interrupted the red creature.

"… And Sonic calls me knucklehead," Knuckles grumbled. "And how do you know that?" he asked out loud.

"Experience. Our princess gets kidnapped about once a week. No one's ever actually hurt her, no matter how twisted they are or crazy their goal."

"Oh, okay," Sonic said. "So… Elise gets kidnapped a lot, then?"

"… Um, we're not from here," the green one said. "We're from the Mushroom Kingdom. Our princess is-"

"Peach," Tails interrupted.

"... I think we've all heard of her, unless we've been living under a rock," Sonic added.

"Hang on, I've never heard of her!" Knuckles said.

"And where do you live?"

"Why you-"

"Hey!" the red-capped creature yelled. "Look, she'll be fine, okay? You three go get some sleep, and we'll gather information for you. That's our specialty, and you'll need your energy if you're gonna try and save her."

"Okay… If you say so. So… where can we meet you?"

"We'll be here. If it's crowded, just shout for Captain Toad," he replied. "That's me. See you."

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles bid their goodbyes, running off.

"Are we really gonna sleep?" Knuckles asked.

"Yeah," Sonic said. "He has a point. I'm not too good when I don't sleep."

* * *

The Mario Brothers, throughout all these events, had opted to simply relax on the beach, and, eventually, just sleep there. Yoshi had left sometime before, to look for the jungle he'd seen from the sky pop, as he didn't want to sleep by himself or on top of a fifty-foot sea stack where he might fall into the water.

The Mario Bros, of course, just slept through the festival. They were unaware of anything going on, until early in the morning when they were rudely awakened.

"Mario! Luigi!" Yvan yelled. It hadn't taken more than a few hours to find them, but reaching them was another story. He'd had to make some pretty fancy wall jumps to get up here. "Wake up! We've got a problem!"

'Problem' did it. Mario's eyes shot open, and he jumped, somersaulting onto his feet. Luigi continued snoozing, until Mario yanked him to his feet. "What is it, Yvan?"

"Kidnapped princess! But not Peach this time," Yvan added quickly. "It was Elise, Soleanna's princess. You see, last night…"

Yvan explained everything that had happened.

"We have to do something," Mario said with conviction. "Right, Luigi?"

"… Ran _faster_ than _you_?" Luigi asked incredulously.

"Yeah. Come on, let's go find-" Yvan didn't get a chance to finish his sentence. Right overhead, there was an absolutely gigantic flying aircraft carrier sporting an emblem on the side that was clearly styled after the man who had kidnapped Princess Elise.

"… Never mind!" Yvan said, grabbing the Mario Bros' arms and hopping off the sea stack to the beach below. "We gotta jet!" As soon as the Mario Bros were prepared, they took off at top speed. Unfortunately, however, they soon had to stop, because of an unfortunate obstruction.

In the form of killer robots.

"Okay, Fire, Ice, Thunder!" Mario said. He formed a fireball in his hand. Luigi and Yvan, hearing his command, started charging electricity and used an Ice Flower, respectively.

In rapid succession, each of the three sent a projectile at each robot. This was a strategy that hadn't failed them yet – Through experience, they'd figured out that there wasn't a whole lot that could resist fire, ice, AND electricity. These robots were no exception – They went down in under a minute, and the three were dashing along again.

* * *

Meanwhile, in another part of the beach, another team of three was blasting through at even greater speed. Sonic was running in the lead, with Tails flying behind with Knuckles in tow.

"Ha, yeah! All right!" Sonic yelled. "Another adventure, here we go! It's game over, Egghead!"

"You could stand to be a bit more serious," Knuckles said. "It's not a game. And he's not even here."

"Doesn't mean I can't have fun!" Sonic whooped, as he ran onto the water. "Haha, take that water!"

Knuckles shook his head at Sonic's general stupidity. "Tails, don't you wish he'd consider the gravity of the situation?"

"Well…" Tails began. "Hey! What's that up there?"

Knuckles was a bit irritated by Tails' lack of an answer, but looked ahead nonetheless. Having by far the best eyesight out of the three, he was able to pick out three quick-moving shapes. None of the three were anywhere near as fast as Sonic or Tails, but their speed was still quite impressive, especially considering that two of them appeared to be human.

"Some weird blue mushroom guy and-"

"Hey, that's the guy I met last night!" Sonic interrupted. "Let's go see him! Never thanked him for the assist!"

Knuckles growled again. He really wanted to break something… Partially because he was angry, but mostly because it was something he was just plain BETTER at than Sonic.

* * *

Mario, Luigi, and Yvan had nearly managed to catch up to the giant object.

"Alright Luigi, it's your time to shine!" Mario said to his brother. "Just a hop, skip, and a-"

"Hey!" a new voice said. Mario, Luigi, and Yvan turned to the right. Now, running alongside them, where there hadn't been anyone before, was a blue hedgehog. "Never got ta thank ya for your help last night! Name's Sonic, and these-" He pointed out the yellow fox and the red echidna he was carrying behind him, "Are my lil' bro, Tails, and my best friend and all-time grump, knucklehead!"

"KNUCKLES!" the red one yelled, "My name is Knuckles!"

"Oh, you're welcome. I'm always doing stuff like this," Yvan said. "It was nothing, really. These guys are Mario and Luigi. They're the leaders of our team. They've been through way more than me."

"Nice to meet you," Mario said, flashing a thumbs up at the hedgehog. "Anyway... Let's get back to salvataggio di persone, yes? Luigi, saltare."

Luigi nodded. He hopped, jumped again when reaching the ground. Upon his second landing, he jumped like only he could. He shot into the air, kicking his legs to get as much height as possible.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles could only stare as the green-clad human shot well over fifty feet in the air. Luigi nearly missed the Egg Carrier, but was able to just barely grab the edge with his fingers. For a moment, it looked like the adventure might be over before it began. For a moment, it seemed like he wouldn't fall.

Unfortunately, fate has a nasty habit of intervening. It also has a nasty habit of being an evil robot. And, in addition, a nasty habit of literally stepping on the fingers of heroes. Luigi fell from the airship, clutching his left hand in pain. He hit the ground hard, but to him it barely hurt. He would have tried to reach the ship again, apart from one tiny problem.

"It's the end of the beach…" Sonic said. "… Well, that stinks. Tails, do you know where it's headed?"

Tails shook his head. "Sorry – I didn't really check up on the geography of this place. Knuckles?"

"Me neither."

"Dusty Desert," Mario spoke up. "I think that way leads to the desert next to Soleanna Castle Town."

"It does," Luigi confirmed, as he sat up. "At least, my memory tells me the same thing. I didn't get that good a look at the map before Yoshi ate it…"

"Well, looks like we know where we're going," Sonic said, holding out his hand. "You guys comin?"

"Oh yeah!" Mario yelled, reaching forward to shake his hand.

"Hope you can keep up with my speed!" Sonic said, before running off back towards Castle Town, just slow enough for Mario, Luigi, and Yvan to follow.

"Hope you can keep up with our jumping," Luigi countered, as they followed.

Knuckles just groaned. He really didn't need two more people with Sonic's attitude.

* * *

_Alright! Another chapter finished. You might have noticed that there's no mention of a Chaos Emerald anywhere in this chapter. That is because, in this story, Elise never had the blue Emerald to begin with. That, in particular, is a huge timeliney continuity mess, so... Well, I'm going to try and sort that out._

_The next chapter is going to be... About Silver, taking place a little before Eggman attacked last chapter._


	3. Chapter 3 (Silver)

_Turns out, math was super-quick this week! Only one assignment, apart from the quiz (which I'll do later.)_

_So, I'm writing this on a Tuesday. Yay. This chapter tells part of Silver's story… And, no, DK isn't showing up in this chapter._

_… He's important to the ending I have in mind, though, so he will show up. Eventually. I just haven't decided where he'll first appear._

_… But there's something kind of big that I should draw attention to now, a major change. Blaze isn't in this story._

**Chapter 3 (Silver)**

* * *

"This is so unbelievable…" Silver the Hedgehog said to himself. "This is really the past? Can I… This can work?"

Silver had been having a strange day so far. He'd had to fight Iblis again, to keep things from getting worse, and met a strange hedgehog. Honestly, he was kind of suspicious of the whole thing, but decided to give him a chance. A chance at saving his home didn't come along every day.

And now, here he was, in the past. Whoever the hedgehog was, he was telling at least part of the truth – He really could send people through time.

"I need to find that blue hedgehog," Silver said. "If I was a… Okay, stupid logic… Maybe there's people in that jungle?" He guessed. He didn't really have much to go on, and he'd always wanted to see a forest. Fiery cities weren't well known for having that sort of thing. Decided, he ran into the jungle.

He was surprised. This wasn't really all that much like the stories he'd been told about these places. He was pretty sure there weren't supposed to be killer robots. Luckily, the conveniently placed crates that were everywhere allowed him to destroy them without much trouble.

It didn't take him long to find some ruins. "… I'm in the past, and I'm seeing the ruins of a civilization from even longer in the past…"

Silver wanted to not do too much damage to them, but he didn't feel that bad about smashing through already crumbling walls with more conveniently-placed crates. To him, it seemed like nobody cared for that part of the ruins, so it didn't matter.

It was easy enough to navigate, what with his levitating over everything. He still had to land from time to time, his stamina in the air wasn't that good, but it worked out.

It wasn't all that hard, really. Easier to navigate than his home, for sure. And, actually, it was kind of fun, despite the seriousness of his mission. Sure, there were killer robots, but they really weren't all that bad compared to what he was used to.

After half an hour or so of going through the jungle, he thought he could see the edge. Unfortunately, standing between him and the edge was… Well, a whole bunch of robots, surrounding a green, reptilian creature. The green creature was trying to fight them off, but wasn't managing to destroy any of them.

Silver levitated a nearby crate and smashed one of the many robots with it. As expected, this got their attention, and they stopped paying attention to the reptile, and started paying attention to him. He kept smashing more and more of them with crates, destroying a fair few of them. Once about half of them were gone, the green creature joined in – Now that it had room to move, it proved itself to be very fast and agile. It jumped above a robot, did a somersault in the air, and came down… HARD. The creature absolutely crushed the largest robot with that attack, and didn't seem to be stopping.

"Yo yo, Yoshi!"

* * *

"(Thanks for the help, I can handle it from here!)" Yoshi yelled at the silver hedgehog who had helped him out of his little jam. One of the remaining robots shot a missile at him, and he responded by eating it. Now that he had some breathing room, things could really get started. He swallowed the missile, gaining a green egg in the process. Five more times he repeated this, until he couldn't carry any more eggs.

Yoshi took an egg in his hand. "(You ready for this? Of course you aren't!)" Carefully, he threw each egg, missing all of the six remaining robots.

If the robots had been intelligent, they might have laughed. If the robots had been intelligent, they might also have known that a Yoshi's egg attack was more powerful if it ricocheted first. Simultaneously, as they advanced on the little dragon, each robot was struck by an egg, now colored red from two ricochets. They didn't stand a chance.

Yoshi looked to the silver hedgehog who had helped him out. He was levitating away, towards the edge of the jungle. Yoshi didn't give him a chance to leave. He flutter jumped over to hedgehog, and jogged alongside him as he flew.

"(Hey. Thanks back there,)" Yoshi said.

"… Um… Sorry, I can't understand you…" The hedgehog said.

"(Oh… uh…) I Yoshi," Yoshi explained. "English… hard speak. Easy understand. Thank for help."

"Oh, you're welcome," Silver said. "I'm Silver! Silver the Hedgehog! I'm trying to save the future. I guess saving people in the present can't hurt."

"Yoshi help," Yoshi said.

"Oh, no, it's not your-"

"Yoshi help Marbros save world lots," Yoshi said stubbornly. "Yoshi help!"

"Okay… If you've done it before…" Honestly, Silver was glad for the help. He didn't want to do this alone, but he didn't want to put anyone in danger, either. "Hey… Have you ever met a blue hedgehog?"

"Blech," Yoshi said. "Harry Hedgehog. They mean, real fast, not big like you."

"Oh… No, I'm looking for one like me," Silver confirmed. "But thanks anyway. Hey, is that a town up ahead?"

"Sol… Sol… ee-and-a Castle Town," Yoshi said, struggling with the weird word. "Peachy there."

"Think they know the blue hedgehog?"

"Dunno, may."

* * *

Amy Rose was trying to enjoy the Festival of the Sun. More importantly, she was trying to find Sonic here. She'd spotted the Tornado 2 leaving Tails' workshop, why had they thought she wouldn't know?

… Okay, they did leave in the dead of night… And she'd been invisible… She'd wanted to surprise Sonic with her new ability, and thought camping out until his morning run was the best idea. And she wanted to see him without him running away from her… Was that so much to ask?

So, she'd hijacked the Cyclone, and followed them, conveniently forgetting that she didn't know much about piloting a plane. She managed well enough until she had to land, but she was sure Tails wouldn't be that mad. After all, he was eight. How angry could he be about her accidentally crashing one of his planes into his other plane? He had, what, three of them? He'd understand. She had to follow Sonic.

At least she'd known not to touch the original Tornado. She wasn't that ignorant. So, here she was, walking through Soleanna Castle Town, completely unconcerned that two of Tails' planes probably couldn't be called 'planes' anymore. Or 'two', for that matter, she'd somehow managed to twist the wings of one around the other.

Rounding a corner, she spotted a sight she didn't expect to see. There was Sonic, _right there_, talking to a weird green reptile. His fur looked kind of bright in the moonlight, but she didn't care. She dashed forward, pulling Sonic into a hug. "Oh, Sonic, I'm so glad I've found you! It's about time!"

"Uh… Miss?"

That wasn't Sonic's voice.

Amy took a moment to look at the hedgehog she was hugging. Upon seeing the silvery-white fur and yellow eyes, she let go.

"Oh my gosh! I'm sorry!" Amy said. "I totally mistook you for someone else!"

"Oh, it's okay, I'm…" Silver looked around for the blue hedgehog. "Where'd he go?"

"Oh… I'm sorry! You were looking for someone…" Amy said. "Well, that does it! I'm helping you find him!"

"Are you sure? I mean, don't you have something else to-"

"I'm looking for someone too! I can help you, you help me, everyone's happy! What's your name?"

"…Silver. I'm Silver," Silver said, after a bit of hesitation.

"Amy Rose! Nice to meet you! Who's your friend?"

"Me Yoshi. Help Silver, met few hours ago. English bad," Yoshi explained. "We trying save world!"

"Oh! Sonic does that all the time!" Amy exclaimed. "Now I'm definitely helping! Maybe he'll finally notice me!"

Silver and Yoshi shared a look. Well, help was help, right?


	4. Chapter 4 (Shadow)

_I'll be honest: I'm not sure when Shadow's story takes place, in comparison to Sonic's and Silver's. I don't know that much of theirs, since I haven't gotten a chance to watch everything, but I do have an idea. But Shadow doesn't appear in Sonic's story until they're already in the future._

_… I'm… Well, going to be rather nicer to Shadow in this story. Still nowhere near my favorite Sonic character, but not close to the bottom of the list anymore. I still don't like him, but I don't really dislike him all that much, either._

_This chapter also introduces yet another Mario character. Here's a hint: He's super-strong, surprisingly agile, quite heavy, and rather smelly._

**Chapter 4 (Shadow)**

* * *

Shadow was doing what he liked best, even if his expression didn't show it: Destroying Eggman's robots. Despite technically being family, Shadow was NOT fond of the 'good doctor'. Even less so when he decided that his best friend (though he didn't exactly let that show either) would make a good hostage.

Shadow and Rouge also happened to be agents of the G.U.N., an international agency that took it as its own duty to protect the world. Since they'd joined, that mostly meant sending out Shadow and Rouge, but Shadow didn't mind that much. Helping people, along with besting Sonic at anything, were two things he enjoyed enough that they were semi-common knowledge. And, for someone like Shadow, that said a lot.

So, here he was, blasting through the snow (and Eggman's robots) in the dead of night, on a mission from G.U.N. to rescue Rouge the Bat from Dr. Eggman, and, once that was done, possibly apprehend a dangerous theif who had been seen in the area known by the (in Shadow's opinion) absolutely ridiculous moniker of "The Purple Wind".

It didn't take terribly long for him to figure out that he might not have been needed. Once he reached the entrance to Eggman's base, Rouge was opening the gate from the inside.

"Shadow? Why are you here?"

"It was a request from the President," Shadow said.

"Ah. Just to rescue me? Honestly, I can take care of myself."

"There's also someone he wants us to apprehend."

"Now THAT makes sense." Rouge smiled. Shadow didn't say anything, and simply jumped into an armed car that was nearby and drove off, blasting robots and searchlights. Rouge flew over and landed in the passenger seat.

"So, Shadow, what does this criminal look like?"

"Human, rather round, stubby legs. Wears purple and yellow. I was warned that he's more agile than his build suggests and that his arms are extremely powerful."

"Any idea how to find him?"

"Keep looking," Shadow replied, serious as ever. "The man is not subtle."

After destroying the last of the searchlights, Shadow leapt out of the car, Rouge following him into a small, fenced-off area.

"Don't you want to know what I found in his base?" Rouge asked, pulling out a glowing rod, with an odd design.

"My assignment was to rescue you and find the criminal. We've only done one of the two."

"Always business with you, isn't it?"

"That's a very dangerous artifact you have there," a new voice said. Shadow and Rouge looked up, to see a large man standing on top of the fence of the area they were in. The man jumped down, landing in front of Shadow and Rouge for them to see his yellow hat and shirt, along with his purple overalls and distinctive pink nose and jagged moustache.

"You!" Shadow yelled, recognizing the man from the photograph he'd been shown. "What do you want?"

"Are you after this too?" Rouge asked.

"No, I've got my prize from Eggman, already." He pulled out a shining red gem, tossing it up in the air before putting it away again. "But I've been a treasure hunter long enough to know powerful magic when I see it."

"You have a Chaos Emerald," Shadow said.

"Yes, that was part of my goal. So I like pretty jewels, so what?" the Purple Wind asked. "I also wanted to meet you. You're an interesting character."

"What?" Shadow asked, surprised. "So you showed yourself on purpose, when my best friend was kidnapped, just to meet me?"

"Nice plan, right?" he said. "Anyway, introductions. I'm Wario. The Purple Wind is an alter-ego of mine I assume when I'm bored and can't find any profitable adventures."

"I'm Shadow, and this is Rouge, but clearly you already knew that. Why are you here?" Shadow didn't trust this man.

"There's something big going on right now," Wario replied. "I'm not sure what, but Dr. Eggman has a base set up here. My rival's arch-enemy, Bowser, is also somewhere in the country. If they decide to team up, Mario's little bunch of misfits and Sonic's team might not be able to handle it. And, of course, there's always profit in adventure."

"Why me, though?" Shadow asked, annoyed. "Why not just go right up to this 'Mario' and help him?"

"You seem far more bearable than that happy-go-lucky nothings-impossible plumber," Wario said. "So, how about it."

"… Fine. For now," Shadow finally agreed. "Any funny business, though, and G.U.N. is going to lock you away."

At this, Wario just laughed. "I'm the strongest man in the world. They'll fail. And, to prove it, I'm going to dismantle this robot about to ambush us. Hang on to this for me." He tossed his Chaos Emerald at Shadow, and, true to his word, a huge, dog-like robot suddenly dropped out of the sky.

"So, robo-fido, ready to rumble?" Wario asked, cracking his knuckles. "Been itching for a real fight since the Shake King. Gonna deliver? Or are you just a scrap heap waiting to happen?" He rushed forward, punching the robot in the side. It left a large dent, but surprisingly the robot didn't seem to notice. Wario repeated the tactic, putting more dents in, but hardly doing any damage.

Shadow and Rouge, meanwhile, were studying the robot.

"I'm not sure what it's weakness is… It seems very strong," Rouge noted.

"Its head," Shadow supplied. "It's being very careful to keep it out of reach…"

"And away from the walls," Rouge added. "… Perhaps they're stronger than its head is?"

"That would make sense. Hmm…" Shadow looked at the head. "That horn… Perhaps it could be used to steer the creature." He held up the Chaos Emerald, disappearing in a flash of light. A second later, he reappeared on top of the robot's head, grabbing the horn of the creature. His reasoning turned out to be sound – From there, it was simple to steer the creature into a wall, greatly damaging its head. The impact threw Shadow off, but the damage was still done.

Obviously, Wario had seen this. Before the robot could recover from the blow, he ran in front of it. "So its weakness is its head…" Wario trailed off, grinning as Shadow nodded. "Well, then, how about and Earthshake Punch to the face!" He jumped up before the Egg Cerberus could move its head out of the way, and punched its head with all his might.

The head of the robot utterly collapsed, as it was thrown into the opposite wall at two hundred miles per hour.

Wario grinned. "Scrap heap waiting to happen. Ha! Too bad there's no valuables."

Shadow didn't visibly react to the display of strength, but Rouge was stunned.

"Now… I believe we need to be somewhere?" Wario asked, as he turned to them.

"Oh, right," Rouge said. "G.U.N. has a rendezvous point in Kingdom Valley. Aren't you worried? They ARE looking for you."

"Bah, I'll be fine. After all, they hired YOU, didn't they?" Wario asked. "Clearly they're not above forgiving thieves if they help save lives. And, frankly, I've been saving people for four years. Now, let's get going, quick as possible."

Shadow rolled his eyes, and took out the emerald again, holding it up. The three vanished in a flash of light with a yell of "CHAOS CONTROL!"

* * *

_Sorry that Rouge didn't really get a chance to do much – Hopefully there'll be something for her later._

_Wario's here, too. And it's probably pretty clear that the only thing he's being entirely truthful about is his own strength._

_Hey, first chapter without scene breaks! That's cool, I guess._


	5. Chapter 5

_Not sure anyone has actually noticed, but Sonic still hasn't seen Yvan in normal form, only as Ice Yvan. There'll be a new power-up showing up this chapter, though!_

_On that note, yes, I do hope to have characters use power-ups from each others' series. It'd be cool._

_This chapter is long, compared to the others, the main reason being that it has a bit of exposition… And a fair amount of dialogue._

**Chapter 5**

* * *

"I can't believe someone stole the Sky Pop!" Luigi complained as they returned to Soleanna Castle Town. "I mean, what are the chances that some random person walking on the beach can fly a plane?"

"I'm pretty sure most of us can," Tails pointed out. "But you've got a point. Let's find the Tornado!"

Tails led them to a wreck of two planes. He could only stare at the wreckage, at a loss for words. How had this even happened?

"… Ah, the good old adventurer's luck," Mario said. "Never fails."

"… Both of these planes are mine…"

"Well, it's always more fun on foot anyway!" Sonic grinned.

"When you can run fast," Knuckles grumbled, but Sonic ignored him.

"And, hey, we'll fix 'em up. But saving people first, right?"

"Right," Tails nodded. "Let's go!" And so they did… To try and figure out how to reach Dusty Desert. In the end, Knuckles' suggestion of asking the locals for directions turned out to be surprisingly effective.

Yvan, Mario, and Luigi took over once they got to the desert. According to Yvan, princesses were always kept in dark, stone places when kidnapped, so they should check out the ruins. Mario and Luigi backed him up, and the group of six ran off towards it.

"So, what's your home like?" Sonic asked Mario, as he jogged alongside the plumber. Tails and Luigi were involved in their own conversation, while Yvan and Knuckles were keeping an eye out for any threats.

"… Weird," Mario said. "There's nowhere else in the whole world quite like the Mushroom Kingdom. Some of the nearby places come close, but… Still. It almost runs on completely different rules from the rest of the world.

"Hey, Knux lives on a floating island. Can't be weirder than that, can it?" Sonic grinned.

Mario smirked. "That's about the gist of it, actually. Most of the kingdom is made up of small floating landmasses that are constantly moving around. Even apart from those, there are floating platforms absolutely everywhere, but those show up in other places too. The only place that's attached to the Earth is Toad Town, the capital."

"Oh… Huh. That is weird. How's that work?"

"Something about the Power Stars. Not sure how it works, to be honest," Mario admitted, as they reached the building. "You go first. It is your nemesis, after all. We'll follow in a bit."

"Right!" Sonic replied. "Tails, Knuckles, let's go!"

* * *

"I'm sure I saw him come this way!" Silver said, leading Yoshi and Amy through the desert. "How could they have gotten anywhere so fast?"

Amy shrugged. "Looks like there's an Eggman base somewhere around here. See the robots over there? Let's smash' em!" Amy ran forward, Yoshi quick behind her. Silver, not being nearly as fast as the other two, lagged behind a bit.

Amy and Yoshi, despite their friendly (if a bit… obsessive, in Amy's case) demeanors, both proved to be rather vicious fighters. Yoshi kept using his hip-dropping move Silver had seen earlier, while Amy… Silver wasn't entirely sure where she had gotten a mallet the size of her own head from, but she could certainly use it. Besides her hammer, she also made use of her spines by curling into a ball and smashing into robots.

Silver was able to catch up soon enough, and once he did he started smashing robots into each other with his psychokinesis.

"Does this happen a lot?"

"You have no idea," Amy said.

* * *

"What's this? Some stupid pet?" Sonic asked, taking in every aspect of the gigantic robotic dog he, Tails, and Knuckles were facing in the room they'd found in the ruins. "Egghead, this thing looks like it's about to fall apart. Seriously, I thought you were a bit better at this. Guess not."

"SHUT UP HEDGEHOG! I WAS working on repairs. Some idiot snuck into my base last night and smashed its face in with a single punch!"

"Wow, really?" Sonic asked.

"Yes, now, if you're quite done-"

"I'm not sure if that says something about the strength of this guy or how weak the robot is," Sonic taunted.

"Why you… GAH! Okay, you'll never find its weak spot!"

"… Didn't you just tell us it's the face?" Tails piped up.

"SHUT UP TAILS. EGG CERBERUS, ATTACK!" Eggman yelled, and the giant robotic dog bounded forwards.

"Alright, Knuckles, here's the plan. You smash its face," Sonic said.

"I've got a better idea," Knuckles said, "I'll smash its face!" He jumped up, and punched the dog in the face just as it was about to meet them. It was flung across the room, but managed to get back up.

"Ha! Did you really think I didn't learn from last night and reinforce it?" Eggman asked, taunting them. "Really, what was the purpose of that?"

"A distraction," Sonic said. "Tails, let's do this!" Tails jumped towards Sonic, and linked hands with the hedgehog. The two began rolling together, smashing into the robot dog's head at extremely high speed.

The robot dog didn't flinch at all. In fact, it didn't even get knocked back. On the other hand, it did get a three-foot wide hole drilled through itself, and it did explode about five seconds later. So, all in all, it was another failure for Eggman.

"Curse you Sonic!" Eggman yelled. "I will get you! And this doesn't mean I can't take Elise! I still need the Flames of Disaster…"

"Yeah, not gonna let you do that, _uovo di idiozia_," a voice Eggman didn't recognize said. He turned to the entrance of the room to see a short man with a rather large nose, a big mustache, and vibrant red and blue clothing. The oddest thing about him, though, was none of these, but the fact that he had a raccoon tail and ears.

"What…" Eggman said. Honestly, he'd never seen anything like this. The raccoon-man's tail was moving in a completely natural fashion, so it couldn't be fake, but he still definitely appeared to be human.

"Uh… Mario? Why do you have a tail?" Sonic asked. Tails and Knuckles echoed his question, in their own ways.

"Explanations later," Mario said. "Now, Eggman, right? Are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?"

"I'll fight you, too!" Eggman said, dropping a wrecking ball out of his hovercraft.

"Wait, you still have that thing?" Sonic asked. "Didn't I trash that, like, five years ago?"

"Shut up. I chose my way," Eggman smirked. "Now, what do you have to say?"

Mario laughed. "Let's go! I hope you're ready for me, my bro, and a certain little blue person you happened to face last night!" Mario jumped in the air, spinning his raccoon tail to fly. Luigi and Yvan dashed into the room, Yvan sporting red clothing and a blue cap with red spots, while Luigi was holding a green boomerang while wearing a greenish-blue helmet and armor that looked like a turtle shell.

"So, anyway, say hello to Raccoon Mario, Boomerang Luigi, and Fire Yvan!" Mario said. Between tail whacks from Mario, boomerangs from Luigi, and fireballs from Yvan, the battle didn't last long at all. Yvan did manage to get hit, though, reverting back to his normal colors.

"You'll pay for this!" Eggman yelled.

"Don't care!" Mario yelled back. He walked over to the princess, who had been watching from the corner. "So, hi. My name's Mario."

"… I've heard of you," she said. "… Thank you. For saving me. You too, Sonic."

Sonic flashed a thumbs up. "You're welcome! Let's get out of here before more of Egghead's goons show up."

"Yeah, you do that," Knuckles said. "I'm gonna stay back, though. You know, distract robots, take out any negative emotions on them, that sort of thing. You guys go on."

"You sure? Be careful, Knuckles," Sonic said.

"Please. I'll be fine," Knuckles waved his hand in dismissal. "See you around, Sonic."

"See ya, Knux!" Sonic said, as he lifted Elise in his arms and jogged out the door.

"Bye Knuckles!" Tails added, as he followed his brother.

"Wait, Bros," Yvan said, stopping Mario and Luigi in their tracks. "I'm going to try and find Wolley and Peach. Give Wolley some backup, you know?"

Mario and Luigi shared a look.

"We understand," Mario said. "See you later." The Mario Bros followed Sonic and Tails, while Yvan ran back towards Castle Town.

* * *

Silver had changed his mind about this beautiful desert. Sure, it was fun, at first… Until he got to the giant ball puzzle. He had to use his psychokinesis to move a gigantic ball just right, and if he made one mistake, he had to start over.

Amy and Yoshi were no help, because Amy was hugging someone else she'd mistaken for her 'boyfriend' (Silver doubted the guy actually was, but what did he know?), and Yoshi seemed to know this mushroom creature (how she mistook him for a hedgehog, he had NO IDEA).

Hopefully, before long, he'd finally manage to FINISH this stupid puzzle and move on to finding the blue hedgehog.

* * *

"Alright, Mario, spill the beans," Sonic said. "What's with the tail? And the ears?"

"Power-up," Mario said, as he flew beside the hedgehog. "Hey, look out, quicksand up ahead."

"… I can help with that," Elise said quietly. She focused, and a shield appeared around Sonic. "… There. Now you can walk on the quicksand."

"Cool," Sonic said, before simply dashing out. "Nice. Actually worked. Anyway, what's this about a power-whatchacallit?"

"Power-up," Luigi said. "Mario, Yvan, Wolley, and I use them a lot. Each one transforms you into a different form with different abilities. Most of the time, they last a few hours, until you get hurt, or until you grab another."

"Was Yvan's ice thing a power-up?" Tails asked, as he flew over the quicksand.

"Yeah. He used an Ice Flower," Mario said. "He's rather fond of them. I used a Super Leaf, and Luigi had a Boomerang Flower. Yvan's second power up you saw was a Fire Flower. Almost anyone can use those, they're really common back home, too."

"Are they all like plants?" Sonic asked, as he somehow managed to Homing Attack a robot with Elise doing nothing but listen to their conversation.

"Nah, some of 'em are different, but most of them are plants."

"Hey, I see the end of the desert just up ahead!" Tails said. "We're through!"

"Awesome!" Sonic said. "Hey, you'll have to show me more of this things, okay, Mario?"

"Can do."

* * *

Once the five were well out of the desert, and had managed to reach some grassy plains, Sonic slowed down and set Elise back on her feet.

"… I have no words to express how grateful I am for all of your help," Elise said.

"Nothing needed, it's just what we do," Sonic said.

"Are any of you hurt?" Elise asked.

"Nothing that won't heal in a few hours. Don't worry about us."

"As long as people are safe, we'll be fine," Mario said.

"So… Eggman mentioned the Flames of Disaster," Tails said. "… Do you know what that is?"

"… Yes," Elise said, hesitating. "Our country honors a sun god, called Solaris. It is told that Solaris's rage would destroy the world, his wrath is the Flames of Disaster. Ten years ago, it almost happened… Soleanna nearly went up in flames… But my father… I lost him, but he was very brave."

"I'm not sure why you'd honor someone like that," Mario said, after it sunk in. He punched his palm. "But don't worry! If I meet this guy, I'll fight fire with fire! My flames against the flames of disaster!"

"And I know he will," Luigi said. "I'm sorry about your father."

Elise made a sad smile. "It was a long time ago… And he was a great man…"

"Don't worry," Sonic said. "As long as we're around, nothing bad's gonna happen to the world!"

"Yeah!" Tails added. "We'll beat all the bad guys, and you'll be safe!"

Elise smiled, a real smile this time. Maybe… These four may be the oddest group she'd ever met. But they sounded so sure of themselves… She started to believe that if anyone could do this, if it ever came to that, it would be them.

* * *

"FINALLY!" Silver screamed. He hoped he never had to do anything that frustrating again. Unfortunately, the Iblis Trigger was long gone now. Come to think of it, so were Amy, Yoshi, and that weird blue guy. Oh well, he'd find them later. Right now he needed to try and catch up to the blue hedgehog.

* * *

_Keep dreaming, Silver. I'm pretty sure you're not a serious stoic black hedgehog or a genius kid fox._

_So, yeah, I know the description of the Mushroom Kingdom is different. It's a sort of explanation for how its geography keeps changing, and all the bottomless pits. Plus, it's cool._


	6. Chapter 6 (Shadow)

_And so we go… Not much to say this time around._

_Just to be clear, I don't dislike Silver. I actually like him, better than I like, say, Shadow. But he's only ever been fast in the good version of the future._

_Still don't know when DK will show up, but there's not going to be much with him. He does need to be present for the ending to work, but otherwise… He's not that important._

_Hey, there's a random cameo in this chapter! He makes no sense and he blows stuff up._

**Chapter 6 (Shadow)**

* * *

"I suppose you forgot that it's the middle of the night?" Rouge asked Shadow as they reappeared.

"Hmph. It'll take longer, anyway, with him slowing us down."

"I'm sure my strength makes up for my lack of speed," Wario said. "And I'm not that slow!"

"To Shadow, everything is slow," Rouge said. "Except, of course, for a certain hedgehog and fox."

"Right, right." Wario said. "So, what exactly was that? How did you do it?"

"Chaos control," Shadow replied. "I used the emerald to impose my thoughts onto space and time, essentially giving us a shortcut from one place to another, though it isn't terribly precise over long distances. Hence why we need to walk."

Wario nodded. "I see… Well, that's a useful ability. May I have my emerald back? You can borrow it again later, if you want, but I'd prefer to hang onto it."

Surprising Rouge, Shadow agreed, handing the red emerald back to Wario.

"Now, then. Let me show you what I can do," Wario said, somehow grinning even wider than normal. "So, this is Kingdom Valley? I can do valleys." Wario crouched down, and dashed straight at a cliff. Shadow moved forward to stop him, but Wario just jumped once he reached the edge of a cliff. His jump was just high enough that his momentum could carry him to a tiny foothold in the walls of the valley, and he didn't lose a beat in making more jumps at every landing, crossing a seventy-foot gap with barely touching the ground.

He continued his show of agility, as Shadow and Rouge rode a mechanical glider after him.

"That was stupid and dangerous!" Rouge yelled. "WHY didn't you use the convenient glider?"

"Not really!" Wario yelled back without breaking stride. "I do this all the time! It's like taking treasure from an ancient cursed tomb. Exciting," Wario paused as he shattered a robot into tiny pieces with a punch. "But not all that dangerous."

"Wonderful," Rouge said to herself. "A violent robot, a genetically engineered grump, and now a treasure hunter with no regard for safety. What's next, a creepy stalker?"

Suddenly, a strange, stick-like man clad in purple fell out of the sky next to her. "WALUIGI WILL FIND LUIGI AND DESTROY HIM!" Shocked, Rouge looked down to see the man… Swimming. In mid-air.

Shadow and Wario completely ignored him.

"Did you see that guy?" Rouge asked Shadow.

"Lunatics are irrelevant to our mission."

"Of course they are," Rouge sighed. "What about you, Wario?"

"Eh, ignore him!" Wario yelled, as he beat up more robots. "He's my roommate. No one really understands him."

"… Of _course_ he is." Rouge then seemed to realize something, and turned to Shadow. "Wait, isn't he wanted by GUN?"

"Exactly," Shadow said. "If he's good, they might take him on. If not, they'll take him away. Simple as that. It's why I let him keep the emerald – Trust, and it's not like he can use it."

"… That's actually pretty smart," Rouge said, surprised. "I'm impressed."

"Thank you, Rouge."

Eventually, the trio managed to reach less precarious ground, near and old abandoned castle.

"This place looks perfect for the pickings," Wario said. "But… Later. Hmm…" Wario seemed to be studing the area around them. "… Ah, got it. It's your basic 'find the keys to go on' puzzle. There are keys hidden, almost definitely three of them. Since Shadow and I can't fly, and I highly doubt you can carry me and him over that wall over there, we may need to split up for a few minutes."

And so, the three did. Shadow would later tell Rouge it was about trust, again, and that he could easily catch Wario if he tried to run away.

In any case, Rouge managed to find two of the keys on her own, blowing up robots with her bombs (Wario approved of the methods, saying that it's always good to keep backup explosives on hand). Wario managed to find one himself, using his strength to stack rocks into a staircase. Before long, they were through the door, and faced with a hovercraft.

Shadow immediately jumped in and drove off, with Rouge flying beside him.

"Don't you think we should have waited for him?"

"He'll find a way."

And, indeed, Wario did, and didn't even seem to mind swimming. Rouge was, once again, surprised by how fast the fat man could swim, but decided not to ask this time. Maybe he was from some weird place where everyone was freakishly good at swimming? If she thought about it, all of the Mobians in Station Square were pretty fast… Maybe it was something like that?

Before long, the three had arrived at their destination, long before anyone else.

"So, now what?" Rouge asked. "If you haven't noticed, the sun is barely up."

"Let's get to know each other," Wario said. "I can tell you want to know more about me, Rouge. How I do what I do. Well, let's get started."

* * *

"Magical stars hold the universe together, and you use that power?" Rouge asked. "I'm… not sure I really believe you."

"I agree," Shadow said. "How is that possible?"

"Heck if I know. It is what it is, and it keeps the Mushroom Kingdom running. What I wonder is why there are conveniently placed vehicles everywhere."

"That's easy. G.U.N. puts them there for me to use, because they know I like them."

"Despite the fact that he can break the sound barrier," Rouge snarked.

Wario seemed impressed. "Faster than sound, huh? Fastest people I've met are the Mario Bros, and not even they've broken the sound barrier. Gotten close at higher altitudes, but even then… I am, honestly, quite impressed. Shouldn't they be here soon? What, exactly, is here?"

"Yes, and this is the old castle of Soleanna," Rouge explained. "The royal family lived here up until about ten years ago, when a major accident occurred. Supposedly, a prototype energy engine failed."

Wario looked around, surveying the damage. "No… That's not what happened." He walked over to a wall, running his gloved hand across it. "Someone was messing with something they shouldn't have. Something powerful was released. But what kept it here?"

"Ten points for the walking grapefruit!" A voice yelled. "The Solaris project. An ambitious project named for the sun god. The goal? To use said sun god's power!"

"Doctor!" Rouge yelled, as Shadow growled.

"It's been awhile, Rouge, and of course, Shadow. May I ask, who is your new friend?"

"So, this is the great Doctor Eggman," Wario said, without turning around. "Hmm… Yes, definitely magic flame damage. But why didn't it spread?"

"I believe I asked your name."

"Wario. Greatest treasure hunter in the world, strongest man to ever live. Don't mess with me," Wario said, without turning around, continuing to examine the wall. He closed his eyes, pressing his palm against it. "Maybe a seal…"

"He's nothing to do with this," Rouge said. "What do you want, Doctor?"

"No need to be rude. I simply want you to return what you stole."

Robots dropped down, surrounding Shadow and Rouge and ignoring Wario completely.

"This feels familiar…" Wario said, still completely ignoring the situation around him.

Shadow attacked the robots, while Rouge tried to fly away with the scepter. Her concentration was lost when Wario suddenly yelled out. "DON'T LET HIM GET THE SCEPTER!" Startled, Rouge dropped the scepter, only for it to fall to the ground and shatter.

The robots began shorting out, and a dark aura surrounded the scepter. Shadow walked forward to it, intrigued. As he neared it, a wave of darkness shot up from it.

"… Well, I'm out," Wario said. "Sorry, Shadow, Rouge, but I have no intentions of meeting the being that did this. It was fun working with you, but, in the end, I've got my own agenda, and you've given me everything I need to pull it off. Good luck."

Wario took out the red Chaos Emerald. "Now, assuming my hypothesis is correct… CHAOS CONTROL!"

Wario disappeared in a flash of light, leaving Shadow and Rouge shocked.

"How did… What?" Shadow asked.

"Pull back! PULL BACK! It's no use!" Eggman yelled, driving his Eggmobile off as fast as he could.

The wave of darkness landed in front of Shadow, forming into a twisted copy of him. Where Shadow was red, this creature was a dark teal, and its skin was much paler than the semi-heroic hedgehog. It had no mouth, and its eyes were a strange green color.

It laughed evilly. "Oh, how ironic fate can be! I would never have believed I would be resurrected through _your_ shade. I thank you, Shadow the Hedgehog!" He bowed to Shadow, but the true hedgehog wasn't buying the politeness one bit.

"Who are you? And how do you know who I am?"

"Mephiles. What? Forgotten? I owe much to you, Shadow! And now…" the creature laughed. "I will now return the favor! A one-way ticket to oblivion!"" He held up his hand, a ball of purple light forming. He released it, and it expanded, swallowing Shadow and Rouge. As the light disappeared, they did with it.

* * *

_For anyone who doesn't know: The thinner the material, the slower sound travels through it. So high-altitude air can have Mach 1 be closer to 600 mph, as opposed to the normal 770-ish. Underwater, sound travels at what in air would be referred to as hypersonic speed. It's even faster through solid materials like steel._

_Yeah, Wario was using them. Who's surprised? No one, probably._


	7. Chapter 7 (VS Silver)

_Okay, yeah, sorry for not having this up sooner. I've thought about it every day, but, well, there's only so much you can do when you're in the process of moving and you don't have internet at home. I've had to focus on schoolwork whenever I've gone somewhere with internet, so… Yeah, sorry about that. Oh well. But, anyway, here we are! It's time for… SILVER! DUN DUN DUN!_

_Also, two more chapters past this are written: White Acropolis (Sonic/Mario) and Crisis City (Shadow)._

_Something else about this story: I don't think I'll include Rosalina. I like using her as an infinite-wisdom, exposition character, but I don't think she should show up this time._

**Chapter 7 (VS Silver)**

* * *

The nation of Soleanna was not, our heroes eventually realized, all that big. It was Sonic who came up with the idea of just taking Elise back to castle town. His reasoning was that Eggman wouldn't think of attacking the same place twice. Mario's reasoning was that he totally would but villains could usually be dealt with by copious amounts of fire.

Luigi and Tails went on ahead, rather than accompanying them with Elise. They wanted to get a headstart on fixing the two planes, in case they needed them later. Mario and Sonic, not having the slightest idea of how to fix machines, just left them to it, talking with Elise as they walked back to town.

Elise seemed to have taken the whole half-raccoon thing in stride, though Mario guessed that was more because she'd never seen him any other way. What seemed to bother her, though, was Mario's affinity with fire.

"… How is it you're so comfortable with your flames? Aren't you… Afraid? That they might destroy?"

"Huh? No," Mario had said. "My fire would never do anything I don't want. It's not like some magic spell. It's more like… a part of myself, really. It's completely under my control."

Elise thought on this. She'd never heard of any power quite like that… How could a fire be a part of you? If something happened to it, would it affect you? She didn't voice her concerns, as Mario had placed a hand in front of her as they reached the gates to Castle Town.

"Something's here, and it doesn't like us," Mario whispered. "We need to see what's going-"

Suddenly, Sonic glowed a greenish-blue color, and was flung against the side of a building.

"Someone get the number of that truck…" Sonic said, dazed. He shook it off, and stood up to see a silver hedgehog flying towards him, glowing the same sheen of cyan.

"Who are you?!" Mario yelled at this newcomer. "And why, exactly, did you feel the need to toss my friend at a building?"

Sonic dashed over beside Mario, and joined him. "Yeah! What did I ever do to you?"

"You're the Iblis Trigger!" the hedgehog yelled. Sonic and Mario exchanged looks. Iblis? "Your actions will condemn us all!"

"And just how is that?" Mario asked. "Who are you, anyway?"

"Silver is my name. What's it to you? Nevermind! I must destroy the Iblis Trigger to protect the future!"

Mario got into a fighting stance, ready to take the hedgehog on.

"And YOU don't matter," Silver said, waving his hand and trapping Mario in a bubble of energy. Mario immediately attacked the bubble with his tail, only getting bounced back by an odd force. This did nothing to deter the plumber, who was nothing if not determined and a bit proud.

While Mario was occupied, Silver could focus on his mission: Destroying Sonic, and preventing Iblis from ever being released. Utilizing his favorite tactic, he picked up Sonic with his psychokinesis and slammed him into a wall. And then again. And again.

"IT'S NO USE! TAKE THIS!" He really shouldn't be enjoying this that much, but this was the single person responsible for the sad, sad state of his future. He did NOT want to give this person any sort of mercy.

After a few rounds of this, the other hedgehog seemed to have caught onto his tactics. Surprising Silver, the hedgehog managed to dash in close, almost quicker than his eyes could follow. With a sweeping kick, Silver was knocked off his feet. He jumped back up as quick as he could, but he was met by a blue ball soaring through the air straight at his head. He was able to slow the blow with his powers, but not quite stop it. The blue one bounced off, but with the force lessened enough that Silver was able to grab him again, and slam him down into the ground. And then twice more, for good measure.

Through the fight, Silver had managed to turn his back to Mario, and Elise had long since run off to a safe, though still nearby, place. When his backside began to warm up, he didn't know what to think, and turned around.

That was a big mistake on his part, and took the upper hand away from him. Within the bubble he'd encased Mario in was a whirling inferno of flames, straining the energy of the barrier. And the barrier was failing – Silver couldn't help but watch as the flames burst out of the barrier, destroying it. Silver barely had time to erect another one between himself and the inferno, and it distracted him from his original foe – He was met with a kick in the back, sending him tumbling to the ground.

The raccoon-man hovered over to him, and the blue hedgehog stepped in front of him.

"Okay, Mister," Sonic said to this new hedgehog. "We beat you. Why did you even fight us in the first place?"

Silver wasn't listening. Instead, he was preparing himself. Without warning, he thrust his hand out, and Mario and Sonic raised in the air with an invisible force choking them. From her hiding spot, Elise was trying very hard not to cry, not truly taking in anything but the scene before her.

"Is this some sort of joke?" Silver asked. "Did you really think I was out? I admit, you're strong. But how could you cause the destruction of the world?"

"What… do you mean?" Sonic was barely able to speak over the psychic hold.

"It doesn't matter. For the sake of the future, the Iblis Trigger must be destroyed!" Silver looked at Mario. "And your friend, too. Those flames… They must not be allowed to contribute to the destruction!"

Suddenly, Elise's scream cut Silver's concentration, and he dropped his two adversaries. Mario flew off, Sonic running close behind, to try and rescue said princess. Eggman's robots had shown up out of nowhere, and grabbed her while everyone was distracted.

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Silver yelled, sending psychic knives at both hedgehog and plumber to bring them down. Sonic fell to the ground, but Mario seemed unhurt, though he did lose his raccoon ears and tail and fall to the ground. "It's time to end this…"

Silver focused on his energy, to put his entire force behind this next attack. It would leave him drained for the rest of the day, but to get rid of the Iblis Trigger, and whoever this flame-wielder was… It was worth it.

Alas, it wasn't meant to be. A pink shape jumped in front of him, blocking off Sonic. A green blur shot past, picking up Mario and moving him away from Silver.

"Amy? Yoshi? GET OUT OF MY WAY! This is my mission!"

"Not a chance!" Amy yelled. "No way, no how, is Amy Rose ever going to let anyone hurt Sonic! If you even dare try, it's the hammer for you!"

"YOSHI YO YO SHI!" Yoshi yelled. Mario was the only one there who could understand what this meant, and it was certainly not something to repeat in polite company. He dashed off, Mario on his back and dragging Sonic behind him. It didn't take Sonic long to recover and run beside Yoshi, leaving Amy Rose with Silver.

"What were you going to do to my Sonic?" Amy yelled, furious that her new 'friend' had betrayed her. "Kill him? Why the heck would you do that?"

"He's responsible for destroying my world!"

"He'd never do that." Amy said flatly. "He's a hero. The best there ever was. He ran off just now, just to save someone he didn't know from Eggman. How is that even possible?"

"Well, this 'hero' of yours will do something in the near future that causes the devastation of my world!"

"True or not, I'll still protect Sonic!" Amy yelled. "Nothing's more important to me than my friends! And you," she glared, "You aren't in that group anymore."

She ran off, leaving Silver all alone, with no companions by his side. He sat down, for the first time, unsure of his mission.

"Could I be wrong?" he asked himself. "Is killing someone to save the world the right answer?"


	8. Chapter 8

_I started this literally directly after I finished the last one. I was so bored of no internet!_

**Chapter 8**

* * *

It was a quick run to where the Tornado 2 was sitting on the pier. Or, it would have been, if not for a slight delay caused by killer robots coming out of nowhere. Sonic claimed this was normal, but it still took a few minutes to take them all down. Once they reached the pier, they found that Luigi and Tails were talking to Knuckles, rather than fixing the plane.

"Sonic!" Tails exclaimed in greeting. "… Um, we heard about Elise…"

"How?" Sonic asked. There wasn't really any way the news could have spread that fast, was there? He'd been with her not twenty minutes ago.

"Eggman dropped this on my head as he was flying over in his ship," Knuckles said, giving Sonic a red card. A hologram of the Doctor appeared out of the card, and spoke to Sonic.

"Sonic The Hedgehog. If you want me to return the Princess, you must give me your Chaos Emerald. Meet me at my base in White Acropolis."

"Short and to the point," Sonic said. "An obvious trap, though… But we don't have a Chaos Emerald."

"What IS a Chaos Emerald, anyway?" Luigi asked. "Tails and Knuckles were about to explain it to me, but… Well, you guys showed up. Great to see you again, Yoshi."

"(Heh, hi Luigi. Or should I call you Ma-)"

"Yoshi, we agreed not to talk about that," Luigi said. "Anyway. Chaos Emeralds. What are they?"

"Oh, just seven stones with unimaginable power. They're all different colors, and have got this weird shape-"

"Brilliant cut," Tails supplied.

"Yeah, that. They glow, and…" Sonic trailed off, staring at the blue gem Luigi had just pulled from under his hat.

"… I found it on the beach last night," Luigi explained. "Got this weird feeling I should keep it."

"… Well, that's one mystery solved," Knuckles said. "Now, what to do about this… As Sonic said, it's an obvious trap."

"No doubt," Tails agreed. "Eggman's probably going to try and take both."

"Well then," Sonic grinned. "We just have to… Not let him do that, right?"

"Right," Mario agreed. "I say we split into two teams – One to go into Eggman's base first, and another as backup in case the first team is captured. We'll go first," He gestured to Luigi and Yoshi. "You guys have a better chance… And Luigi's got the emerald."

"… Okay, I don't like just walking into a trap," Luigi said. "But…"

"It sounds like a good enough plan," Tails agreed. "Knuckles?"

"Meh, I guess."

"Well then, let's head to White Acropolis!" Sonic yelled. "Does anyone know where that is?"

"… When all else fails, go right!" Mario said, running to the gate of the warehouse district and jumping over it effortlessly. Luigi shrugged, and he and Yoshi followed his brother.

Sonic grinned, and dashed off after them.

"That doesn't seem all that…" Knuckles stopped as Tails grabbed his hands, and took to the skies after his brother.

As it turned out, Mario WAS right. Taking two right turns after leaving the warehouse district, they made it to a cave fenced off by lasers that Sonic said was "totally Egghead's style". After trashing a few robots, the cave became accessible, and they went through to find themselves on a snowy peak.

"Snow world, level three!" Mario said. "Typical, eh, Luigi?"

Luigi nodded. "I assume Eggman's base is that metal building all the way down there?"

"Yep. And it's time to snowboard!" Sonic yelled, grinning and pulling out a snowboard from nowhere. Knuckles and Tails did the same.

"… Not even going to ask WHY you have snowboards," Luigi said. "Mario, Yoshi, and I can find our own way, right guys?"

Mario and Yoshi agreed with Luigi, and the three Mushroom Kingdom heroes ran off, jumping down the mountain. Sonic ran to the edge to make sure they were alright, and saw them jumping down the cliff, one ledge at a time.

"That's pretty cool," Sonic admitted, as he ran back to Knuckles and Tails. "Anyway, ready to race to the bottom?" He hopped on his snowboard, Knuckles and Tails following suit, and took off down the mountain.

As it turned out, the Mario Brothers and Yoshi reached the bottom quite a while before Team Sonic did, thanks to their shorter route. At the bottom, they immediately ran towards the base, destroying robots and knocking down searchlights on the way. Mario was in the lead, using his fire to clear a path through the snow, while Luigi shot any searchlights in their path with electricity, and Yoshi took out robots with eggs and ground pounds.

Each of the three would have been able to do it just on their own, but just as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles together were an unstoppable team, so were Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi. They reached Dr. Eggman's base without any real trouble, though the doors were locked. A couple of well-aimed kicks from the Mario Brothers later, and the doors ceased to be a problem.

Running through the base, the Mario Brothers found it strangely calm. "Isn't this usually the part where there's even more enemies?" Luigi asked.

"Maybe this Egg fellow does things different than Bowser," Mario suggested.

"(Or maybe he's an idiot,)" Yoshi added, earning a chuckle from the Mario Brothers. Using their tired and true method of always going right, the Mario Brothers were able to find a giant circular room, with a window in the top revealing Eggman glaring down at them, and behind him, held captive, was Princess Elise… Along with a much more familiar blonde-haired princess, and a pair of yellow and blue mushroom people.

"Peach!" Mario yelled. "How'd he get you?"

Peach seemed to be saying something, but she couldn't be heard through the glass. Dr. Eggman picked up a microphone, and spoke into it. "My new associate helped me with that one. Said her power may be of use. Now, who are you and how do you know her?"

"I'm Mario, and these are my brother Luigi and my best friend, Yoshi!" Mario yelled. "We've got something you want!" Luigi took out the blue Chaos Emerald. "Now, give us the princesses, and you won't get hurt."

"Hmph. Me? Hurt by you?" Eggman asked. "I highly doubt that. Now, you see the pedestal in front of you?" He indicated a small raised part of the room that had just risen out of the floor, with a small indentation in it. "Place the Chaos Emerald there, and you will receive."

Mario glared at the man, but motioned for Luigi to do what he said. Luigi placed the Emerald, and jumped back to Mario.

Eggman grinned evilly. "Now, allow me to introduce you to my latest creation! A purple cylinder of force surrounded the Mario Brothers. "I call this the Solaris prototype. With it, I can control the very fabric of time and space!"

Mario and Luigi stood their ground, Mario trying to hold on to Yoshi.

"It's no use, you know. It's impossible to resist its pull." With that, Yoshi slipped out of Mario's grip, screaming as he was pulled to the ceiling and disappeared in a flash of light.

Mario shot a death glare at Eggman, but still held his ground. Luigi tried to use his thunderhand to get them out, but it did nothing but make Eggman look intrigued.

"Electricty, hmm? Now I'm even more curious… What exactly are you…" He pressed a button on his control panel, to collect all data he could about the two men who were somehow resisting his machine. After a minute or so of collecting data (and the men STILL not being pulled up), he doubled the power to send them packing.

"Au revoir, Mario and Luigi!" Eggman said, sending them off. "I won't be seeing you!"

The doubled power was too strong for even the Mario Brothers to resist, and they were pulled into the air, disappearing in a flash of light. Just as Eggman powered down the machine, three familiar faces ran in and stood at the same spot.

"Hello, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles. And goodbye. I have what I want." He powered it right back on, and the three tried to resist, but, unlike the Mario Brothers, were no match for its pull.

"What… what did you do to them?" Peach yelled.

"It doesn't matter, really. They're lost in time. They could be in the far future, or the distant past. Frankly, I don't care," he looked over the data he'd collected on the Mario Brothers. "But I highly doubt we'll ever be seeing those two again. I have everything I need." He pointed to the blue Chaos Emerald. "The Emerald, to unlock the flames of disaster." He turned to Elise. "The living seal of the flames herself," and finally to Princess Peach. "And you, of course. A Star Child, to control it."

"Mario and Luigi will be back," Peach growled. "Nothing's ever stopped them before."

"Well, nothing's ever tried to stand against me and your friend before," Eggman said, pointing to the now-opening door at the back of the room. In walked a giant turtle-like creature, his shell covered in spikes, flaming red hair on top of his head.

"That's right," Bowser laughed in his growly voice. "Apart, we may have failed. But together… We WILL conquer!"

"We WILL rule the universe!" Eggman yelled, joining in with Bowser's gloating.

* * *

From his place in the shadows, a stout man decided he had heard enough. This truly was getting concerning. He pulled out his red Chaos Emerald, and softly said to himself, "Chaos Control."

If the Mario Brothers were gone, then they'd need all the help they could get. If this being he'd sensed before were to become whole… He didn't think having a Star Child would matter. It'd destroy the world.

He needed to pay a visit to one of the only people to ever match his strength… A certain ape, living on an island named for himself. And, maybe, find a bit more backup. The speedy princess his best friend pined after… She may be of help, too. If he could get that silver hedgehog he'd seen on his side...

The beginning of a plan was starting to hatch in Wario's mind.


	9. Chapter 9 (Shadow)

_And yet another chapter written without internet! This is the last of this triple-update._

_Anyway, yeah. Here's Shadow's Crisis City._

_So, no internet while writing this, so I had to think back on Generations (which I actually have) Crisis City._

… _And I'm skipping Sonic's Crisis City, because it just doesn't seem like it has anything to do with… Well, anything. Likewise, Flame Core will focus on Sonic's group, with a bit of Shadow here and there. These next few chapters are probably going to have the biggest changes in the storyline from the original._

**Chapter 9 (Shadow)**

* * *

By crashing into the ground, it quickly became apparent to Shadow and Rouge that they weren't dead. Shadow was first to his feet, and Rouge followed quickly.

"That slimy little… How did…" Rouge growled, looking out over the flaming city they had landed in. "... Though I think where we are might be a more pressing matter."

"Agreed," Shadow said, studying the city. "It seems familiar, but I've never been here in my life."

"Memory issues?" Rouge guessed.

Shadow shook his head. "This is different. Mephiles… He said he was sending us to oblivion. So why did he just teleport us? Who is he? And how did Wario use Chaos Control?"

"I'm afraid I've got no idea," Rouge said. "Our best bet is to try and find something telling us where we are, and get back as soon as possible."

"I agree," Shadow said shortly. "Now, let's-"

Before Shadow could finish speaking, a flash of light appeared about ten feet up, accompanied by a scream. He looked up to see two men falling to the ground, one wearing a red plumber's outfit and angling himself to land; and the other wearing some odd green armor, screaming and flailing.

The red-clad one landed as though the fall had only been a few inches, while the green one landed on his head. Somehow this seemed to cause his armor to transform into an outfit nearly identical to the shorter man's, though green rather than red.

"… Well, that was a shock," Rouge said, once she got over her surprise at the two men's appearance.

The red man looked at Shadow, and jumped back. "Huh? Sonic? Wait, no…"

"Again?" Shadow growled. "I don't look that much like him. He's blue, I'm black; I've got chest hair, he doesn't!"

"… Are you related?"

"NO!" Shadow yelled. "I'm an artificially created lifeform, immune to age and sickness! He's… I don't even know, but not that!"

"Forgive Shadow," Rouge said. "Being mistaken for Sonic is a bit of a sore spot for him. Anyway, I'm Rouge. Mind introducing yourselves."

"We're the Super Mario Bros! I'm Mario, and the guy next to me moaning is my twin brother, Luigi." The man in red said in introduction, completing a little spin as his brother picked himself up. "… Ah, would you know where we are? I'm afraid I don't recognize this place. Eggman sent us here, you see."

"We're not sure either."

"Well, then, let's work together!" Mario exclaimed. "It's always great to work with new friends."

Shadow narrowed his eyes. He did not like this man's tone very much… He realized it was because the man reminded him of Sonic. Fine, then. He'd treat him like Sonic.

Shadow smirked. "Well, then… If you can keep up, fine. If not, not our problem." He dashed off, activating his rocket skates as he went. Rouge sighed, dashing off after him.

Mario grinned. "Let's-a-go!"

Despite Shadow's speed, a destroyed city wasn't exactly the perfect environment for his abilities. Fortunately, he was able to find a conveniently-placed buggy that allowed him easier movement through the city, at least to start with. Rouge chose to ride with him, though the Mario Brothers said something along the lines of 'we don't do vehicles'.

The Mario Brothers, on the other hand… Such an environment was _perfect_ for them to use their abilities to the fullest. Like Wario, they could easily jump from one tiny foothold to the next without slowing down. The main difference was that, in comparison, they made Wario look like a clumsy slowpoke. They could easily jump twice as high as Wario, and, unlike Wario, didn't necessarily need a floor.

Soon enough, Shadow had to get rid of the buggy, and go on foot. It wasn't so bad, the fact that there were fiery tornadoes carrying platforms to jump on helped a lot. Rouge said something about it, but Shadow ignored her. He was too focused on the fact that the Mario Bros were acting like this was absolutely effortless.

Honestly, it wasn't bad, but he couldn't clear half of these gaps without a jump dash. Mario just made some weird crouch-jump, while Luigi just kicked his legs. Somehow this worked like gliding. Rouge, meanwhile, just glided between platforms. Ah, the pleasures of having wings.

Mario, for his part, was _loving_ this place. It made him feel so… Alive. Even if it was dangerous, being surrounded by fire was making him giddy, in a way someone with no fire powers wouldn't understand.

Luigi, on the other hand, was not enjoying himself. These monsters were annoying, no matter how easy it was to electrocute them. He wasn't so concerned with the prospect of falling into lava; it was painful, sure, but he'd live.

After aimlessly wandering for a few hours, they happened across a sort of open plain… That was also mostly on fire. The only thing there was a building that, to all of them, looked vaguely familiar.

So, of course, they broke in. Not that it was much of a break-in, since the door had been blown of its hinges.

It didn't take long to find a sort of control room, and Rouge set to work on getting logged into the somehow functioning computer.

Shadow, Mario, and Luigi waited in silence. None of the three were really big talkers, though for different reasons, and none of them really minded. After a while, Rouge spoke.

"Guys?" she said. "Um… I know where we are… This may come as a bit of a shock, so bear with me. This is Dr. Eggman's base in White Acropolis… Some two hundred years in the future."

"… So that means Mephiles has the power to control time," Shadow said. "It felt very similar to Chaos Control…"

"I think Eggman mentioned something about controlling time and space with his machine," Mario added.

"And the machine's power felt very similar to a time hole," Luigi added. "Long story short, we've traveled through time before. Though it was twenty-four years BACK…"

"Well, then, now that we know where we are… We just need a way back," Rouge said. "Hmm… Shadow? Would Chaos Control take us back?"

Shadow shook his head. "I don't think so, not on its own… And I doubt I could transport all of us, anyway. What we'd need is to create a rift, but for that, we'd need two emeralds, AND two people using Chaos Control. We'd need to go looking, and hope that one of these two can use it."

"Why would we be able to?" Mario asked.

"Wario could," Shadow said simply. "Now, we're not going to get much done here, so-"

For the second time that day, Shadow was interrupted by a flash of light and screaming. This time, however, three familiar shapes fell to the ground. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles had arrived in the future.

Sonic landed on his feet easily enough, while Tails landed on his back, saying something about his own dizziness, and Knuckles landed in much the same manner as Luigi.

"Well, fancy that…" Rouge said, seeing the three. "Hey! Didn't expect to see you guys!"

"Rouge?" Tails asked, looking up to where they were. "Shadow? Mario! Luigi! Great to see you guys! Um… Where are we?"

Rouge explained the situation to Team Sonic, and the beginnings of their plans.

"And how do we find the Chaos Emeralds?" Sonic asked. "I mean, we don't exactly have an emerald radar with us."

"I can sense them, faker," Shadow said. "Or have you forgotten? Follow me. I can sense two rather close to each other right now."

* * *

_And… There we go! I'm not sure how I did on this one… Oh well. I'm still really enjoying writing this, one way or another. Next update will probably be... Umm, quicker, since I've got my internet back now._


	10. Chapter 10

_I know events are out of order from the game… But does it matter that much? Again, things are going to be different. ESPECIALLY in the next Mario/Sonic-centric chapter._

_Also, the description of Flame Core is probably very little like it actually is in the game. I'm feeling more comfortable with it, though._

**Chapter 10**

* * *

"It's a giant volcano…" Tails said in awe, looking at the huge mountain before them.

"Yes. There's one Chaos Emerald to the right, and another to the left side. We should split up, so we can cover things quicker. Now, who's going to go which-"

"Right," Mario said, dashing off without a second thought. Luigi followed him, without even saying a word, Sonic and Tails close behind.

"… I'll be honest, you two are more my speed," Knuckles said. "Let's go."

* * *

The route Mario had chosen happened to be a river of lava, with floating rock rafts sliding down it and fiery bird monsters everywhere. Mario was completely unfazed by all this, as though rivers of lava were a common occurrence. Sonic used said firey monsters to make a path, by using his homing attack, or… Well, just light-dashing rings whenever he found them. Luigi and Tails stuck together, using their combined aerial abilities to follow behind them.

"Your brother seems really confident…" Tails said. "I mean, it's not every day you're in a river of lava, right?"

"… Actually, that describes our lives pretty well," Luigi confided. "Okay, not every day, but at least twice a month. Bowser – our bad guy, like Eggman is to you two – lives in this sort of place."

"… Isn't that dangerous?" Tails asked, as he flew Luigi over a rather long stretch of lava.

"Yeah. But hey, at least there's no ghosts! Most of the time…" Luigi shivered, despite the immense heat. "Hate ghosts…"

"I'm scared of ghosts, too," Tails said, as he set Luigi down on a relatively solid stretch of land. "And lightning… I don't like lightning at all."

Luigi frowned as he ran, thinking of the implications that might have for their friendship.

* * *

Shadow, Rouge, and Knuckles had come across something very unexpected.

"Is that…" Knuckles started. "Omega? What happened to him?"

"He's in standby mode," Rouge said, examining her robot friend closely. "Looks like it's been… Probably ever since we left…"

"All the more reason to return," Shadow said. "I don't know why he's here, but if it can be prevented, that would be far preferable."

* * *

Mario, Luigi, Sonic, and Tails had stopped for the time being – They'd found a small metal building, reminiscent of Eggman's base, and decided to check it out because of this.

They saw a silver hedgehog, familiar to Mario and Sonic, talking to a weird Shadow look-alike. They hid in the doorway, watching them without alerting them to their presence.

"So… This blue hedgehog… He caused all this?" Silver asked the Shadow lookalike, as he looked at the computer screen in the room.

"Yes. His actions caused the release of Iblis. The only way to save your world is to prevent these actions from coming true. I can send you back to when the Iblis Trigger was alive – Allow you to save your world, by changing the past."

Silver thought for a moment. "I'll do it!"

The Shadow-like figure seemed to grin – quite a feat with no mouth – And caused a purple sphere of energy to appear, enveloping Silver so the hedgehog disappeared. He himself snapped his fingers, vanishing in a flash of light.

The three heroes ran in, to check the computer where the Shadow clone had been showing Silver information. Tails immediately set to work trying to figure it out.

"So… This is where Silver is from," Mario said, as Tails worked. "Hmm… I see why he thinks I had something to do with it, but what could it be that you caused?"

"Well, faker's faker could just have been, y'know, lying. He's pretty much obviously evil."

"Good point."

"Uh-oh…" Tails said. "This is… Really bad, guys… Just listen. Two days after the beginning of the Festival of The Sun, Princess Elise died when the Egg Carrier exploded… Releasing Iblis. It says here, with the disappearance of Team Hero, Team Dark, and the Mario Brothers the previous day… No one was really able to stand up to the fiery beast…" Tails seemed close to tears. "…th… the first to try was… Amy… And…" He took a deep breath before continuing. "… by herself, she couldn't… Then Princess Peach and the Toad Brigade, but they too… Then… I don't know who they are, but the Kongs, Wario, and Daisy… The only one to make it out was Wario, who later came back by himself and…" Tails stopped talking.

"Uh… You okay, bro?" Sonic asked.

"… No… we need to… back… So many people tried to fight this thing and…" Tails trailed off. "… Everyone we know… Team Chaotix… Cream and Big… Everyone tried, but no one…"

Sonic pulled Tails away from the computer, giving his little brother a hug. "Don't worry, Tails, we won't let that happen."

"… We need to get back. Now," Luigi said.

* * *

Shadow, Rouge, and Knuckles had made it into the volcano itself, with Knuckles giving Shadow a ride while they climbed through the inside.

"Our lives seem to become increasingly dangerous every day," Rouge said.

"Tell me about it," Knuckles agreed. "Before you know it, the planet's probably going to be broken into seven pieces again, only this time there's also going to be some ancient monster on the loose."

"… And you got that idea _where_?" Shadow asked. "Agh, no matter. The Chaos Emerald is on that tiny platform way down there in the middle of the lava. Keep going, and don't fall in."

"Don't fall in," Knuckles said sarcastically. "Right. I'll keep that in mind, and try to hang on to my rings."

It was a good thing, really, that Knuckles and Rouge were such good climbers. If they weren't, they'd probably have fallen into the lava – And there weren't any rings down there, so there was more than a little danger. They didn't fall, though, and Knuckles and Rouge were able to safely get Shadow to the Chaos Emerald. With a shout of "CHAOS CONTROL!", the three disappeared from the volcano, to appear outside.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sonic and Mario's group was heading over and beyond the volcano, to a group of burnt trees where a cyan light could be seen shining.

"Almost there," Sonic said to his little brother. "And then we'll save everybody, don't you worry."

Tails nodded, still too shocked form the information he'd seen.

As they approached the emerald, a flash of light appeared, carrying Shadow, Knuckles, and Rouge with it.

"Hey, long time no see!" Sonic said, grinning.

"It's been fifteen minutes," Shadow said.

"What can I say?"

"You can – DON'T TOUCH THAT!" Shadow yelled, but it was too late. Fixated on the idea of getting back and saving his friends, Tails had flown to the cyan Chaos Emerald in front of them. A gigantic fiery beast erupted from the ground under it, knocking Tails back. Luigi caught him, and he was unharmed, but shaken. The beast kept coming and coming from the ground, breaking it to reveal lava below, until it reached its full size.

"What is that thing?!" Sonic yelled.

"… Iblis," Tails said, remembering the information he'd read earlier. "… That's Iblis… it's one half of Solaris… The power half… It's mindless destruction with all the strength of a star…"

"Well, then, _amici_," Mario said, adjusting his hat. "Let's-a-go."


	11. Chapter 11 (Silver)

_Ha ha. I'm so evil. After leaving you off there? Well, you're getting a Silver chapter._

_Werewolf99: Well, yeah. Sonic's not a bad guy. And, hey, since when do Eggman and Bowser learn from their defeats? They get beaten, try a new tactic, get beaten again, rinse and repeat to the end of time. Well, strictly speaking, Mephiles didn't lie about a thing. He just omitted information._

_Silver gets a boss fight! I incorporated some of his moves from Sonic Generations, because, well, it's cool. And I do like Silver._

**Chapter 11 (Silver)**

* * *

Silver sighed, as he tried to figure out what to do. He'd been sitting on a dock near where he'd fought Sonic and Mario for the past few hours, trying to figure out what the right answer was, and trying to get over Amy and Yoshi's betrayal.

… He'd only known them for a day, true, but they were still the first friends he'd ever had. He wished he had a friend… Someone to ask what to do, to support him when he needed help. With Yoshi gone off with Mario, and Amy Rose who-knows-where… He was all alone again. Just as he'd been in Crisis City. Just as when he'd fought Iblis.

"Is it right?" he asked himself again. "Is killing the right answer? Even if it saves the world?"

"You tell me," a voice said behind him. "Do you think it's the right thing?" Silver slowly turned to see a human girl sitting down, a little ways up the dock. She was wearing yellow and orange athletic clothes, with a flower motif, and had short red hair and bright blue eyes.

"… No, not really," Silver admitted. "But…" Could he trust her? She seemed friendly enough… "Well… I'm from the future. I came back to change things… Make it so my timeline never happened. There's this blue hedgehog who apparently caused it, so… I was trying to…"

"I see," the girl said, deep in thought. "Well, I've got this friend. He's proven to me that there's almost always a way to save the world from evil without taking lives, if you just look for it."

"You think so?" Silver asked. Honestly, what Amy had said about Sonic was still getting to him. The way she'd described him didn't really sound anything like what he'd expected of the Iblis Trigger.

"Yeah. And I'll help you find it," she said. "I'm Daisy!"

"It's kind of dangerous, I couldn't-"

"Ah, pish-posh. I can handle myself." Daisy said, smirking. "Now, why don't we start by trying to figure out where to go?"

"Well… Um… I heard something about Dr. Eggman… Maybe he's involved? Who is he, anyway?"

"Ah! Eggman. I know where to find him!" Daisy exclaimed, back-flipping into a standing position. She grabbed Silver by the wrist. "Hang on, this could get bumpy." She shot a thumbs-up at a stout figure in the shadow of a nearby warehouse, and dashed off at high speed.

* * *

Silver shivered in the new environment they'd reached, which was a snowy forest, following Daisy and helping the speed demon sort out robots. He used his tired-and-true method of flinging things at things he didn't like with his psychokinesis, while Daisy had a more… Interesting fighting style.

The speedy girl used her speed to sneak up on robots, and then punched the ground in front of her. This, somehow, had the effect of making gigantic crystals shoot out of the ground and impale robots before sinking back into it. Sometimes, she'd dash into robots, leaving a trail of petals behind her and green grass growing in her wake, even through the snow.

It wasn't long before they were met with an impassable wall with a laser gate, guarded by a few robots. Daisy just used her Petal Dash to plow through all four robots, disabling the gate in the process.

"How'd you know that would work?"

"Listening to Luigi. He's a friend, has experience. Defeating enemies will usually open gates. If not, look for a key. And if that fails, just blast your way through. He and his brother do this a LOT."

"… Huh." Silver thought on this, and was surprised when Daisy suddenly yanked his arm and used her Petal Dash to blast down the mountain.

"What's that for!" he yelled at her over the wind.

"Look behind us!"

Silver did, and wished he hadn't. There was a snowball the size of a building rolling after them. If Daisy hadn't seen it... He didn't want to think about it.

Daisy was straining herself, trying to keep her Petal Dash up. She'd never remained doing it for more than a second or so, and she wasn't even sure how long she could keep it up. As the snowball drew closer, she pushed herself harder and harder. It felt like she was coming up on some sort of barrier… If only she could break through it, they'd be in no danger from the snowball. It was still gaining on them, and Daisy didn't even have the slightest clue of how fast they were going now, but if she didn't want to be squashed, she'd have to go faster.

As she prepared to push herself as hard as she could, she thought back. _Man, I thought this'd be easy. Stupid Wario._

Daisy managed to push herself over the invisible barrier. She thought she heard a dull crack, but sound had become so distorted from the sheer speed she was moving at. Silver was hanging on to her, screaming, but the sound never reached her ears. Though she couldn't see it, a huge shockwave went off behind her, blowing snow all over the place and completely obliterating the snowball.

Before she knew it, she'd flown off the edge of a cliff, landed on the other side, and plowed through more killer robots. Finally, she slowed to a stop, and nearly collapsed.

Silver, though shell-shocked, was able to catch her before that happened. "You okay?" he asked.

Daisy laughed. "Ha ha… yeah… I finally did it, Silver!" She grinned, despite the exhaustion present. "I never thought I'd actually manage it!"

"Uh… Manage what?"

Daisy smiled again, standing up shakily. "Going that fast… Let's go find Eggman."

"Um… Okay. But how about I do the work this time?"

Daisy took a tentative step, wincing at the fatigue. "Yeah… Let's go with that."

Thankfully, there was no need for speed throughout the next part of their journey. Silver was able to use his psychokinesis to take out anything in their path, and levitate himself and Daisy across any gaps.

To Silver, this was nothing special. He didn't even think about it, not even when he used the watchtowers surrounding the place as forty-foot-tall dominoes. He was starting to think that Daisy had come to him on purpose… No one normal could've pulled a stunt like THAT. He decided to trust her, though – Whatever her intentions were, she'd saved his life. And he couldn't just ignore that.

He was so caught up in his thoughts, he barely noticed it when Daisy bashed the door to Eggman's base open with more of her weird crystals.

"So…" Daisy panted. "Ready?"

Silver nodded. "But… Why don't you wait out here? Where you're safe…"

"Okay," Daisy said, and collapsed into the snow, ignoring the cold as she started snoring.

Silver turned to the now-destroyed door, and ran inside. He found an empty, snow-filled arena of sorts.

"They're not here," he said. "Where could they have gone?"

"OH HO HO HO!" laughed a voice. "Why, you're a new face." Silver looked up to see a hovercar carrying a fat human in a red jumpsuit, who could be none other than Eggman. "Well, if you're looking for Sonic, I'm afraid he's not here. Or, rather, now. In fact, I assumed you were him, at first, with that little stunt you pulled with the sonic snowball trap. But, I don't have time for you. Say hello to my associate! I'm sure you'll get along splendidly."

Over the other side of the fence leapt a great beast, like some sort of freaky combination between a turtle, a dragon, and an ox. It was huge – Easily ten feet tall, with a spiked shell, a horned head, and flaming red hair. What really got to Silver was its eyes, though – Red orbs, teeming with ambition and malice.

"Gwar har har!" The creature laughed, in a deep, growling voice. "So, you're my opponent? A shrimpy white porcupine? Hah! You're looking at a grade-A, prime-cut, final boss here! I am Bowser! King of Koopas, conquerer of galaxies! And you, puny weakling?"

"Silver! And I'm a hedgehog!" Silver yelled. This guy… He'd practically just announced he was evil! If Sonic was associated with them… Maybe Sonic's actions had led to THEM releasing Iblis! If he stopped them here, then he could save his future!

"I'll leave you two to it, then," Eggman said, flying off.

Bowser grinned, and wasted no time in dashing forward for a punch. Silver jumped out of the way just in time – Not only was the brute big, he was fast. Before Silver could react, Bowser sent another jab at him, knocking him into the air. Silver was able to get his bearings and levitate above the battlefield, where Bowser hopefully couldn't reach him.

It turned out to be a false hope – Bowser jumped up, curling into a spiky ball on the way up. If Silver hadn't flown out of the way, the two-ton projectile would've crushed him into the ground. Silver caught Bowser on the way down, and flew down with him. He slammed the gigantic Koopa into the walls of their arena, denting them beyond repair, but when Bowser uncurled he didn't seem hurt in the least – But he was disoriented form the spinning. Without processing what he was doing, Silver sent a psychic knife at the beast, finally damaging his foe.

"Yow!" Bowser yelped. "That stung! Heh, you're good. Most people don't even manage to hit me." Bowser grinned evilly. "Enjoy this small victory, because now the real battle begins!"

Bowser took a deep breath, flames forming in his mouth. Silver saw this in time, and jumped up, levitating in the air to avoid the spinning flame-breath barrage Bowser unleashed.

As the last few flames left Bowser's mouth, Silver had an idea – A crazy idea. He tried grabbing the flames with his psychokinesis, and found that he could. Before Bowser could react, he thrust his arm forward, slamming the flames into Bowser's stomach.

"Grah!" Bowser yelled. "Hit me once, and you're lucky. Hit me twice, and ALL BETS ARE OFF!" Bowser roared, dashing forward with another punch.

Silver, having gotten somewhat of an idea for his attacks, moved out of the way. But that didn't stop Bowser's next tactic – He disappeared from sight, as though he was never there. Silver looked around frantically, before noticing a shadow falling upon him. He flew out of the way just in time, as Bowser slammed into the ground, producing a giant shockwave that crumbled the walls of their arena and removed all the snow from the ground in a hundred-foot radius.

"Face it, punk!" Bowser yelled. "I'm faster, stronger, and tougher than you'll ever be! What do you have? Fancy flying? HA! I've fought four flyers at once! Face it, buddy. You're screwed."

Silver thought Bowser might be right – He'd gotten a few hits in, but he'd exhausted most of his options for attack. He got the feeling that Bowser _hadn't_. And he turned out to be right, because Bowser chose that moment to shoot a gigantic purple fireball at him, that he barely managed to dodge as it screamed by him with the sound of a jet engine. He tried to grab it, but to no avail – And Bowser was charging up ANOTHER one.

Silver dodged the purple fireballs, looking around for something he could use as a weapon. He saw the rubble of their little arena, and he got an idea – But unless something distracted Bowser, he wouldn't have time to pull it off.

He got his distraction – With a huge boom and a shockwave, an orange blur trailed by plant life blasted straight into Bowser, knocking the giant Koopa down and ricocheting off into nearby trees.

Silver was lucky to come to his senses before Bowser – he started lifting every piece of rubble he could, forming it into a gigantic ball of trash. He levitated it above Bowser, just as the Koopa King came to.

"What the-"

"METEOR SMASH!" Silver yelled, bringing tons of material down on Bowser all at once. Just to be sure, he kept pushing it into the ground for several seconds, multiplying the force it would've had tenfold. He immediately rushed to the trees where Daisy had crashed, and was relieved to find her uninjured – But still unconscious. He levitated her, and ran off back to town. Sonic wasn't here… But, maybe, he could find someone who knew where he was.


	12. Chapter 12 (VS Iblis)

_Werewolf99: Just to clear something up: I do not, under __**any**__ circumstances, include characters made by my reviewers in my fanfics. Heck, I don't even like including characters __**I**__ made up. Though Wario is still working behind the scenes with his own plan, which also involves Donkey Kong._

_So, I decided to start work on this one quickly. Because I want to. I like doing the fight scenes! And the ones where the characters become friends, of course!_

… _And, a note, Iblis is a LOT stronger here, mostly because we've got SEVEN heroes fighting it, and… Well, it's supposed to be the strength component of a god. That just screams power._

* * *

**Chapter 12 (VS Iblis)**

Iblis was truly an ugly creature. It was a sort of lava snake, with sharp horns surrounding its head. It had turned the entire landscape around to lava – Apart from a few platforms that the seven heroes were now standing on.

Mario was the first one to make a move – Dashing at the edge of a platform, he did a Long Jump to reach another, and quickly one more long jump to kick Iblis straight in the eye.

Iblis didn't like that at all, and tried to fry Mario with some flames. Mario deflected the flames with his firebrand, before grabbing onto one of the horns and using it to swing himself back to safety.

By this time, Sonic, Shadow, Tails, and Knuckles were on the move. Knuckles was gliding Shadow in close while the latter shot Chaos Spear after Chaos Spear at the flaming creature. Tails was flying Sonic above the creature, and kicked him at it once he was close enough. Sonic was surrounded by an aura of electricity, homing in on the creature. As Sonic bounced off and back to the platform, Tails was already curled into a ball to fall directly on the creature's eye.

Rouge swooped past Tails as he flew back, throwing her special bombs at Iblis. They stuck to it, exploding once Rouge was far enough away.

Luigi hadn't moved – He was too terrified, and he wasn't even sure what he could do to help. There was no way he was surefooted enough to directly hit the creature like Mario had, and his only other option was summoning lightning. And, frankly, Luigi really enjoyed Tails' company. He didn't want to scare the little fox.

As everyone returned from their first wave of attacks, Iblis roared and shot fire at them. Mario was able to get rid of it by returning his own fire, but there was still a problem.

"We appear to be doing very little damage," Shadow said. "If we don't have some sort of edge, it's quite possible Iblis will outlast and overwhelm us. Any ideas?"

… Hang on… There was something he could do! Luigi took out a Super Leaf, using it to gain a fox tail and ears.

"What the heck?" Shadow asked. "How did-"

"Power-ups!" Mario exclaimed. "That's it!" He took out an Ice Flower, tossing it to Sonic; and a Cape Feather, which he handed to Shadow.

Luigi gave Tails a Fire Flower and Rouge a Metal Mushroom.

Mario grinned before tossing a Rock Mushroom to Knuckles.

"Um, what?" Shadow asked, as the group avoided another barrage of fire.

"Power-ups," Mario explained. "You use it, you transform! Plain and simple."

"And how do you use these things, hm?" Rouge asked, turning over her Metal Mushroom in her hands.

"Just… Erm, imagine using its power?" Mario suggested. "Luigi and I… Um… Well, it just comes naturally to us."

Shadow rolled his eyes, but tried nonetheless. To his surprise, the feather disappeared in a puff of smoke that enveloped him, and when he came out of it he was wearing a yellow cape.

Encouraged by Shadow's success, Sonic tried his next. He gained a furry scarf around his neck, and he changed from a royal blue to a lighter, icy blue. Tails' fur changed from yellow to reddish-orange, with his gloves and the white parts of his shoes turning a yellow-orange color.

Rouge's body became encased in metal, though she found she could still move and breathe just as easily. Knuckles used his, and his shoes became stone while a stone outfit appeared on his body. Like Rouge, he had no trouble moving anyway.

"Alright! Quick explanation," Mario said, as the group dodged more fire. "Shadow, you can fly, and don't be afraid to use your cape as a weapon or shield! It's excellent at both. Sonic, Tails, you've got Ice and Fire, respectively. You can control these elements, use their attacks, as long as you've still got the power. Sonic, you can run on the lava if you want. Knuckles – Rock and Roll! Literally, curl into a ball, and you'll become a practically invincible boulder. And Rouge… You're metal. Do whatever you want, because nothing will hurt you before it wears off. Everyone got it? Good. Let's-a-go!"

With that, the battle resumed with renewed fierceness. Sonic was the first one to attack, dashing forward over the lava, ice appearing under his feet as he moved forward. He did a spin dash straight into the monster's stomach, encased in ice as he shot forward. The cold proved to be extremely effective, as Iblis screamed in anger. It shot fireballs out again, only for them to be intercepted by Shadow's new cape as the black hedgehog swooped down to attack it with his own spin attack, made far deadlier by the cape he wore.

Rouge waded through the lava, and started whaling away on Iblis with kicks, and the powerful being couldn't even do anything to stop her. Whenever he tried, he was interrupted by another blast of ice from Sonic or a whack with a cape from Shadow.

In his fox form, Luigi flew in, stomping on Iblis's grotesque green eye a few times before he was thrown back to the platform.

"This is freaking awesome!" Sonic yelled, as he chucked another ball of ice in Iblis's face. "Man, I should've tried this before!"

"I admit, flying under my own power is quite enjoyable," Shadow said, as he ripped the cape off to deflect a fireball, putting it back on before he'd even fallen a foot. "And the means is functional in other ways, too."

Iblis roared again, but was met with something unpleasantly hot entering its mouth. Tails had flown Mario over to the fight, and now both were flinging fireballs at Iblis relentlessly – Mario with impeccable aim due to his Firebrand, Tails with great power do to his Fire Flower.

In this fast-paced blitz of attack, Iblis didn't see Knuckles gliding above it and curling into a ball until a two-ton echidna-boulder dropped on its head and rolled down its body. As he crashed into a platform, Knuckles was able to latch onto the wall and bring himself up.

Iblis roared again, and began thrashing about. Sonic was forced to retreat, and Rouge's relentless ongoing attack was cut short as its tail hit her back to the platforms they'd started on.

"Heh, this guy really knows how to throw a party!" Sonic exclaimed, before curling into another icy spindash just as a joint attack by Shadow and Luigi sent Iblis closer to the platform. Tails brought Mario down just as Sonic landed, and the hedgehog and the fox shared a silent conversation. Both Sonic and Tails curled up into spindashes, Tails surrounded by fire and Sonic by ice. They released at the same time, plowing Iblis straight into another rocky welcome courtesy of Knuckles.

"We're still not getting very far," Shadow yelled from far above. "We're doing better, but this thing is just too powerful! We're probably going to have to use some more draining moves to take it out!"

"Right!" Tails yelled back. "Sonic? Rolling Combo?"

"Read my mind, bro!" Sonic said, grabbing onto Tails' hand. They curled into a joint spindash, both fire and ice surrounding them. They shot forward together with even greater speed than the two speedsters could achieve on their own, plowing straight into Iblis's eye. As soon as they were out of range, Shadow swooped down to use his own attack, glowing red as he prepared to unleash it.

"CHAOS… BLAST!" Shadow yelled, causing a massive explosion to emit from his body and damage Iblis. The force of the blast caused him to use his cape, but he expertly landed next to Sonic and Tails regardless.

Knuckles chose that moment to show up, looking like nothing less than a flaming drill with his Maximum Heat Knuckles attack. He dashed through the fiery being, damaging it everywhere, and landed next to Sonic and Tails.

Rouge's Metal form having worn off by now, she started spinning on the spot, her left hand in the air. "Black Wave!" she exclaimed, a ripple of dark energy emerging from her and striking Iblis straight in the eye.

Despite all this abuse, Iblis stubbornly clung on. It roared again, though it sounded weaker than before. Mario remained next to the five who had just attacked, ready to defend them at a moment's notice, while Luigi remained flying above the battle, unsure of what to do.

_Do I use it? What if Tails doesn't like me?_

Iblis roared again, sounding stronger than the last time.

_Then again, he did that thunder thing of his own, so maybe…_

Iblis roared yet again, clearly recovering from the damage.

_Gah! I guess I've got no choice._ Luigi opened his palm, carefully aiming it towards Iblis, and raised his other hand to point at the dark clouds above.

"THUNDER!" A bolt of blue-white lightning shot from Luigi's hand, striking Iblis dead-on in the head, electrocuting the powerful demon. For several seconds, Luigi maintained the bolt, and electricity coursed around Iblis's body. Once he'd exhausted his electricity, Luigi stopped, and watched as Iblis fell into the lava, defeated.

Luigi fluttered down to his friends, and Mario gave him a high five. "Way to go, bro! Knew you could do it!"

"Wow, that was pretty sweet," Sonic said, sharing a high five with Luigi as well. "Like… ZAP! POW! Just, wow!"

"Impressive, I'll admit," Shadow said.

"… That was kind of terrifying," Tails said. Luigi's spirits fell, his fox ears drooping. "But… Also really, really cool!" Luigi perked up, and shared another high-five with his (currently) fellow fox.

"My. And here I had you pegged as a bit of a coward," Rouge said. "Just goes to show, you can't-"

A roar shook the ground, and Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles wasted no time jumping to defend Shadow, Rouge, and Mario from the onslaught of flame the not-so-defeated Iblis had just released. Everyone had been taken by surprise, unable to counterattack.

The wall of flame knocked Luigi backwards into Sonic and Tails and both of them onto Shadow and Rouge, causing the black hedgehog to accidentally release the Chaos Emerald, which skittered to a halt by Mario's foot. Mario himself had managed to narrowly avoid being smacked into by ninety pounds of echidna.

In two seconds, the fight had gone from "We won!" to "There's only one of us fit to fight left." Mario reacted fast, grabbing the green Chaos Emerald Shadow had dropped. The sheer power he felt from the Emerald nearly overwhelmed him, but he was able to keep it under control. Focusing on the Emerald, he drew on its power the best way he knew how – By absorbing it all into himself. The emerald became dull and lifeless, while Mario's body began to shimmer with a green glow. The rush of power was amazing – In that moment, Mario felt like he could do anything, no matter what.

He stowed the Emerald away, and used his power to draw on the fire around him – Twisting it, contorting it to his own will, making it his own. Mario's eyes glowed as his hands ignited. He continued to build up power, even using Iblis's flames to fuel his own.

"You know, I expected it would come to this!" Mario yelled at the mindless beast before him. "Me against you! Fire versus fire! But, here's the thing! There's only room for one master of fire here! One of us has to go!" Mario smirked. "And, let me tell you! It's not going to be the savior of the Star Rod, the destroyer of the Shadow Queen, the conqueror of the Shroobs! I've destroyed foes like you before! And in the end…"

Mario released the flames he'd gathered, watching as they burned through Iblis as massive twin dragons of fire, tearing Iblis's own flames from him, destroying the body and power of the great being.

"You're no different." As the flames, both Mario's and Iblis's, dissipated, Mario felt the Emerald's power leaving him and returning to its rightful place. The cyan emerald Iblis had swallowed dropped to the rapidly-cooling lava, and the dark clouds in the sky began to disperse.

Mario's friends were beginning to get up to stare at the spectacle that had just occurred. Shadow turned to stare at Mario, in awe of what he had done.

"You used the Chaos Emerald as though it was one of your power-ups," Shadow said. "Know this, Mario. Today, you impressed me. That's not an easy thing to do."

Tails had already flown down and brought the Cyan Emerald back up, to hand it to Shadow.

"Ah, good," Shadow said. "Now, who wants to pull it off? I believe Mario has proven he has… sufficient compatibility with Chaos Energy, but if anyone else would like to try… The more people who can use it, the better for the world."

"Eh, why not," Rouge said, reaching out for Shadow's Emerald.

"… I'd like to try," Tails said, reaching to Mario. "I don't really use the emeralds much… But, I guess if I don't try, I'll never get better, right?"

Mario nodded, handing Tails the green emerald.

"Alright. Just use it at the same time, and it should work, if you have the ability."

Rouge and Tails held up their emeralds, both shouting "CHAOS CONTROL!" Absolutely nothing happened with Rouge, though Tails did manage to move about three feet.

"Hmm… Rouge has no ability for it at all, I'm sorry to say," Shadow said. "And Tails, you do have the ability, however you aren't powerful or experienced enough to use it very well." He took the emeralds from Tails and Rouge, handing one to Luigi.

"Why me?" Luigi asked.

"You're the only one I don't know the potential of," Shadow said. "It's a bit of an… Experiment, as you will. We've got time, as we aren't in our own. And Wario made me curious – I would not have guessed humans would be able to use it. And yet, Wario and Mario both show a natural affinity for the energy."

"Um… Okay," Luigi said, holding the Emerald up. "On three, then?"

"Yes. One,"

"T-two…"

"Three. CHAOS CONTROL!" Shadow yelled.

"C-chaos control!" Luigi echoed nervously. To his surprise, a swirling vortex immediately opened up near where he and Shadow had used the Emeralds.

Shadow nodded. "Good. You've got every bit the ability I expected of you. Now, everyone in!"

Tails and Sonic were the first to enter, eager to leave this place behind. Mario quickly jumped in after them, Knuckles and Rouge close behind him, leaving just Luigi and Shadow there.

Luigi looked at Shadow for a moment, before jumping in.

Shadow was about to follow, when he noticed something near him – A flame, a dark cloud of smoke, and a somewhat familiar figure emerging from it.

"YOU!" Mephiles screamed, a huge departure from his earlier behavior. "YOU – RUINED – EVERYTHING!"

Shadow dashed towards Mephiles as the portal behind him closed, trapping him in the future for the time being.

"YOUR LITTLE RED FRIEND, TOO!" Mephiles yelled, as he skated away from Shadow. "I honestly didn't think he'd be a problem, but look at this! HE'S DESTROYED MY OTHER HALF!"

Shadow let that sink in, and glared at Mephiles. Some things Wario had said back in Kingdom Valley were beginning to make more sense now.

"And you... YOU'RE THE START OF THE ENTIRE PROBLEM!" Mephiles yelled, suddenly pulling to a stop in front of Shadow. "I SHOULD HAVE KILLED YOU, INSTEAD OF SENDING YOU HERE! A MISTAKE I PLAN TO RECTIFY **RIGHT NOW**!"

* * *

_Hey, this is the longest chapter so far! And it's all one huge, climactic fight scene with seven heroes versus a being of near ultimate power._

_Originally, Mario was just going to transform into Fire Mario, and use the Mario Finale that way. But I decided he needed to use the Chaos Emerald sometime, so he used its power the only way he knew how._

_Now, things have really changed! Mephiles has gone off the deep end, due to the unforeseen factor in a pudgy plumber._

_And, in case it was unclear (but I think it was pretty clear): Iblis is _**dead**_. After the beating it took from Silver before the story started, then the seven heroes here, it had no chance of standing up to a Chaos-powered Mario Finale._

_And one thing that might be less clear: Daisy did, in fact, learn how to Petal Dash faster than the speed of sound in the previous chapter._


	13. Chapter 13 (Amy)

_Oops… Misnamed Daisy's special ability. Its official name is __**Flower**__ Dash, but I called it __**Petal**__ Dash. Should I even bother editing it? Seems such a minor thing._

_Alright, we've got a chapter with a different perspective! It's kind of shorter than the last one, because it's not really that important…_

_I'm also working on another fic. I may or may not publish it, depending on how well I do it. It's definitely going to be after this one's finished, though, so it's going to be a while. I'm not going to be updating two fics at one right now – This is my focus._

_On that note, I think we're around the halfway point of this fic. Man, it's been fun to do this again._

* * *

**Chapter 13 (Amy)**

Amy Rose was still hurt by what she perceived as Silver's betrayal. So, she decided the best way to deal with things was to let off steam and help people at the same time. To her, this meant infiltrating Eggman's base in White Acropolis. It also had the added bonus of possibly bringing her closer to Sonic.

She'd been going through the base for nearly twenty minutes now, and hadn't met a single robot. They were probably all outside, anyway, and, admittedly, her new skill had let her get in undetected. She was really beginning to like the ability.

Suddenly, she stopped walking, and peeked around the corner to another hallway. Not twenty feet away were robots, the first she'd seen. She hid herself with her new skill, and they paid her no mind. She came out of hiding, and turned to walk back down the hallway she'd come from when a door opened.

Out came a young woman, a human about six feet tall and with incredibly yellow hair. She wore a pink dress and a golden crown. With her were two mushroom creatures, that Amy wasn't familiar with the species of, though she was pretty sure she'd mistaken one of them for Sonic earlier; and another girl, this one clearly younger, and with red hair and a white dress.

Before any party could say anything, alarms started blaring. "Prisoners have escaped from cell block C-17. All patrolling guards, begin searching."

"This way!" Amy whispered to the group, leading them the way she'd come.

* * *

Thanks to Amy, the group managed to get back to Soleanna Castle Town with little trouble.

"Thank you," the lady in pink said. "I'm grateful for your help, and I'm sure my companions are, too."

"Yes, I'm so grateful," the redhead said. "Thank you so much for rescuing me."

"You're welcome!" Amy said, smiling at her. "I'm Amy, Amy Rose!"

"Princess Peach," the lady wearing pink said, offering her hand. "My companions are Yvan, the blue one here-"

"We've met," Yvan said flatly.

"And Wolley, the yellow one."

"Butterflies and lollipops," Wolley said, grinning and shaking Amy's hand.

"They're… Well, I guess you could say bodyguards, but that's not entirely accurate."

"My name is Elise," the last remaining member of the group spoke up.

"Wait… Elise? Princess of Soleanna?" Amy asked. "I bet someone's already on their way to rescue you!"

"Um, yes, but… Well, Peach said... What was it? 'Heroes… Something, but take action?'"

"Heroes save the day," Peach recited. "But not without the help of friends. Always try to help, even if you fail, because nothing happens when you don't. Mario taught me that."

"You know Mario?" Amy asked. "That guy who was with Sonic earlier?"

Peach smiled. "He's my best friend. He's not like anyone else I know…" Peach sighed.

"… You wouldn't happen to have some feelings for him, would you?"

"Ah… Well… Er, it's complicated… I really don't know…"

Amy laughed. "It's okay! Love changes everything! It feels like everything is huge, doesn't it?"

"I don't know if I love Mario or not," Peach said. "But… I think I can say, yeah. Mario changes everything. I don't know what I'd do without him. Miss Elise? I think we should be getting you home about now."

"Oh, right!" Amy exclaimed. "Let's go make sure everything is safe!" She ran off towards the castle, Peach following behind her. Yvan and Wolley stayed with Elise to protect her, just in case.

Soon, Amy slowed to a stop, and motioned for Peach to do the same. Peeking around the corner of a building, she saw that there were a few Eggman Robots blocking the way.

"I'll sneak up on them. Are you good at sneaking?"

"Not terribly," Peach admitted. "At least, not sneak-attacking… My game is defense, really."

"Well, alright then. I'll take out some, then you can come in. How's that?"

"Perfect."

Amy Rose used her new special skill in front of someone else for the first time. She faded from sight, becoming invisible. She walked quietly over to a couple of robots only a few feet apart from each other, and spun on the spot with her hammer. They didn't stand a chance.

Peach took this as her cue to come in. She ran in, holding a pink parasol (how had Amy missed that?) out in front of herself like a shield. The robots tried to shoot at her, but it turned out that her parasol really WAS a shield of sorts – It just deflected them, allowing Peach to get in close and smash a robot to bits with a frying pan (another thing Amy hadn't noticed). She blocked another attack while Amy destroyed another robot, focusing her energy on her parasol. After a second or so, it began to glow, and she let her energy flow out of it. A beam of hearts erupted from the tip of her parasol, hitting the robot she was defending against dead-on and causing it to explode. Amy used her Homing Attack on the last robot, clearing the way for Elise and the two Toads to catch up.

"So he knows we've escaped," Peach said.

"Nah, he's just a paranoid old coot. His robots attack Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, or me on sight. It's like, part of their basic programming."

"Oh…"

There were a few more times when they met up with robots, but there wasn't anything that Amy and Peach couldn't handle. Throughout the short journey, the two continued to talk to each other about their lives, and found they had much in common. Elise and the Toads mainly stayed quiet, content to listen to them and lend a hand when needed (the latter mostly on the Toads' part).

Soon, they'd reached Elise's home. Amy and the Toads took their leave, though Elise invited Peach inside because they had official business they hadn't taken care of, due to the whole kidnapping thing.

They hadn't even made it to the main part of the palace when Eggman himself arrived in his Egg-mobile, along with several robots.

"I've been waiting for you, Elise. And, my, Peach, you're here too. Shame you're irrelevant now. I have other options.

Peach stepped in front of Elise, getting into a protective stance. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you aren't the only Star Child. I've ascertained the identity of three more of the seven. Robots, capture Elise, and knock out Peach."

Peach pulled Elise close and ducked both of them under her umbrella, fumbling through her pockets as she tried to find an item.

"What're you doing?"

"You said you saw Mario power-up, right?" Peach asked.

"You can do that too?" Elise was surprised.

"Yeah. Here we go," Peach pulled out what she'd been looking for.

Eggman grinned. Oh, this was too easy! They couldn't stay under that super-umbrella forever. Sooner or later, they'd have to come out.

And they did – In a flash of pink, three of the robots had been sliced apart. Before Eggman could react, the same pink blur was pouncing on his other robots, ripping them to shreds as well. In about twenty seconds, all the robots were dispatched and Eggman could clearly see what had happened.

Sitting in front of Elise was Princess Peach, clad in a pink cat outfit, and, oddly enough, sitting like a cat.

"Ah. I wasn't aware you could use Power-Ups as well," Eggman said. "No matter. An evil scientist always has a Plan B." He pressed a button on the Egg-mobile, sending a nasty jolt of electricity at Princess Peach. It hit her dead-on before she could move, freezing her in place as her power-up disappeared. Eggman wasted no time in sending the Egg-mobile's telescopic arm out, capturing Elise and conking the still-frozen Peach on the head on the way.

She didn't fall unconscious, but she couldn't recover in time to give chase to Eggman. In the end, she left the castle, holding her head in pain as she went to tell Amy and the Toads the bad news.


	14. Chapter 14 (Rouge & Omega)

_Werewolf99: I'm not really sure how to explain my logic, but I'll try. Since this is a fan fiction, I'm writing about characters who aren't mine, and that I love. Mario, Sonic, and their supporting casts are very important to me, my childhood heroes, really – I wouldn't want to take away from that with some character I made up. Does that make sense?_

* * *

**Chapter 14 (Rouge/Omega)**

Rouge jumped out of the portal, arriving in Soleanna Castle town with the green Chaos Emerald. She guessed that Team Sonic probably appeared somewhere else, or maybe at a slightly different time… They had entered before her, after all.

For a minute or so, she waited for Shadow to arrive, and the only reason she stopped was because the portal closed. Then she started to freak out a little bit.

"Shadow? Shadow? Where'd you go?" Rouge asked, but to no avail. Her best friend wasn't here. "… If he's left behind… Then he doesn't have a Chaos Emerald…"

The GUN communicator on her wrist began ringing. "Agent Rouge? Have you retrieved the Scepter?"

"… Well… It's rather complicated. I'll provide a full report shortly. Right now, I have a situation. I need to contact Omega immediately." Omega had been built specifically to guard Shadow, after all. If anyone could find Shadow, it'd be him. It helped that they got along very well – Omega was fascinated with the sheer destruction Shadow could cause when he felt like it.

"He is currently situated within the jungle near your location. He was sent there to deal with a small problem, in the form of… And you won't believe this… A hyper-strong gorilla with a tie and a little monkey with a red hat who has a jetpack and peanut-shooting guns."

"With all due respect, I did help defeat Metal Sonic when he went insane and consumed the Egg Fleet. I'm not sure it gets much weirder than that."

"Too true, Agent Rouge. Report back when you have time."

Rouge hung up, and flew off towards the Tropical Jungle that was near Soleanna, to begin her search for Omega. The Tropical Jungle was a very odd place, in Rouge's opinion. She'd been here once before while treasure hunting, and had always found it odd how there were ruins sticking up out of a lake. It was pretty easy for her to navigate, though, since she could just fly from platform to platform with no trouble.

The only real difference from last time was that there were Eggman robots swarming the place, but that was no big surprise. Wherever Sonic and Eggman were, this was bound to happen. What did surprise her, though, were the winged turtles that kept trying to divebomb her. She'd never seen anything like them before.

"FOR BOWSER!" One of them, with a red shell, screamed as it tried to attack her. She kicked it into the water, and watched it resurface. It shook its fist at her, and began swimming for shore. Rouge thought back a bit. Bowser… Where had she heard that name before? Oh, right, Wario had said that was Mario's nemesis. So these turtles must be his minions… Either he's working with Eggman, or against him.

She landed on a rather wide platform to rest her wings for a bit, and, of course, was ambushed. Two turtles, wearing odd armor and carrying hammers, along with two large badniks, had surrounded her.

"Come quietly and we won't rough ya up too bad!" One of the turtles yelled.

"Yeah!" The other agreed.

"My, that's no way to treat a lady. Just who are you?"

"We won't tell our names to-"

"I'm Clark and this is Mark! We're hammer bros! We gonna beat you with an endless volley of these things!" The second turtle said, and nearly beaned Rouge in the head with a thrown hammer.

"… Right. Well, I'll just be on my way then…" Rouge tossed a couple of bat-bombs at the badniks, destroying them effortlessly, and kicked Clark into Mark, knocking them out before they could carry out their threat.

"… I'm getting the feeling these guys are either just incompetent, or out of their element. Ah well! Makes it easier for me!"

Clark and Mark were just coming to as she flew off, and started throwing hammers at her. Not that any of them actually reached her, but they did try.

* * *

"SUBMIT IDIOT APE!" Omega yelled in is monotonous voice, using his flamethrower on the spot the gorilla had just been standing.

"Donkey Kong no understand why tin man attack! Donkey just want to help!" Donkey Kong replied, as he rolled out of the way.

"YOU ARE JUST TRYING TO TRICK ME. DECEIVERS MUST BE ANHILLATED." Omega raised his arm to fire again, but was met with peanuts moving at high speeds hitting it.

"He's not gonna listen, DK!" Diddy, Donkey Kong's nephew and longtime companion, shouted as he flew by with his jetpack, peanut popguns in hand. "Gotta take things up a notch!"

"Take up? Ooh! Donkey say Bongo and Guitar! Boomy tunes!"

"… Great idea!" Diddy said, landing next to DK. "Okay, mister crazy killer robot…"

"MY NAME IS OMEGA. THANK YOU FOR THE COMPLIMENT, MEATBAG."

"Listen to this!" Out of nowhere, Diddy pulled out an electric guitar, while DK pulled out a pair of bongos.

If Omega wasn't a robot, the sheer volume of the sound produced would have surely knocked him unconscious. As it was, it messed up his sensors for a precious few seconds, allowing DK to get in close and deliver a devastating uppercut punch.

"Banana-slamma!" DK yelled.

Omega went flying into the air, somewhat damaged from the punch (nothing a few rings couldn't fix, though), and began gliding on his way down. He began to analyze the fight. Clearly, his favorite method of blast-first-and-keep-blasting-until-it-stops-moving wasn't going to work – This ape was strong. Possibly almost as strong as him. He'd need a trick to take him down… And he got it. The ruins across from their little arena were weaking on the bottom. If he hit them just right, DK should be buried underneath. Still gliding down, Omega fired at the ruins, getting his intended effect.

The ruins fell towards DK, rushing down to crush the giant ape… Only to be stopped. Donkey Kong was holding the building, which must have weight several hundred tons, above his head. He crouched down as Omega, and at first Omega believed it was because the building was too heavy. Upon closer analysis of his stance, though, it seemed more like he was about to throw…

"DOES NOT COMPUTE!" Omega yelled, moving out of the way as the ape flung the building at him.

"NONE STRONGER THAN DONKEY!" DK yelled, pounding his chest. "Give bananas! Was told get bananas if beat robots!"

"Wait, that's why we're here?" Diddy asked. "I thought we were just coming on vacation."

"Am I interrupting anything?" Omega was glad to hear Rouge's voice, she was one of the few people the walking arsenal could call a friend, in whatever loose, warped definition he had of it.

"Beat Eggman robots for bananas! Wario promise bananas for DK!" DK yelled, pounding his chest more. "WHERE BANANAS?!"

"Hang on, Wario sent you?" the bat asked. "To… Beat up robots. And then he'd give you bananas."

"Hey, this is news to me, too," the companion of the ape said. "I just thought we were having a vacation. Well, my uncle's kinda hard to understand sometimes, anyway…"

"DONKEY STUBBORN AND STUPID AND STRONG AND PROUD!" DK yelled.

"… I can see that," Rouge said. "Well, this is the wrong robot. He's my friend. There's some robots you can beat up back in the jungle. And some turtle-things that are working with them, too."

"Koopas?" Diddy asked. "There are Koopas here? Aw, yeah! I've always wanted to fight Bowser's forces! K. Rool gets really boring! C'mon DK, let's go!" Diddy flew off in his jetpack, DK following close behind by swinging through the trees, yelling about bananas.

Rouge flew down to Omega. "You alright there, big guy?"

"UNIT IS SAFE. MULE APE IS STRONG IDIOT."

"Yeah, I got that. But a… friend… maybe… of mine sent him to help out. Okay, to be honest, I've no idea what the guy is doing. He ditched us, but now he's sending people to help. Anyway, that doesn't matter. What DOES matter is that I need your help locating Shadow."

"BROODING HEDGEHOG IS OFFLINE. LOCATION UNKNOWN."

"… I was afraid of that," Rouge said, sighing. "Okay, here's the deal, Omega. Shadow is some two hundred years in the future. He hadn't got a Chaos Emerald, so-"

"ROUGE WISHES FOR ME TO ENTER STANDBY AND BRING IT TO HIM. ALSO DESTROY ANYTHING THAT GETS IN MY WAY."

"… Yes. And-"

"I WILL RETURN WITH SHADOW. GIVE ME THE EMERALD."

Rouge handed the green emerald to Omega, and he put it into a special compartment in his torso.

"INITIATING TIMED RESTART. BACKUP POWER AND EXTRA AMMUNITION PRESENT. I WILL SEE YOU LATER, ROUGE."

"I'm counting on you, Omega. And… See you later."

Omega nodded, and activated his thrusters to blast off somewhere to lie in wait for two hundred years, so he could support Shadow in the far future.

* * *

_Wario, once again, is in the background, trying to forward some goal. Maybe it involves money. But, in any case, he's gotten Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, and Daisy to all come to Soleanna._


	15. Chapter 15 (Shadow VS Mephiles)

_Nothing really to say up here this time. A short chapter of Shadow fighting a crazed Mephiles, who is more than a little unhinged after the death of Iblis. Though it's also the second half of a double-update._

**Chapter 15 (Shadow VS Mephiles)**

* * *

Mephiles transformed – Shadow didn't know what to think, exactly, about this occurrence. His dark doppelganger had now taken on a more demonic, crystalline look, the sclerae of his eyes becoming a bloodred color and a dark aura surrounding him.

He raised his hands, summoning dark shadows – Hundreds of them, all of them fixated on one goal – Destroying Shadow the hedgehog.

"Who are you?!" Shadow yelled, ever defiant.

"I am nothing you could comprehend beyond the death of you!" Mephiles yelled. "KILL SHADOW, MY SHADES!" He himself disappeared into Shadow's own shadow. "And I shall weaken you from within! You shall know pain as your life fades, Shadow! Just as humanity caused me pain!"

Shadow did feel the pain, alright. It hurt a lot. But he wasn't the Ultimate Lifeform for nothing. He worked through it, and attacked the horde of monsters with all his might. Homing Attack after Homing Attack, Chaos Spear after Chaos Spear, Spin Dash after Spin Dash.

"And how, exactly, did humanity cause you pain?" Shadow asked, as he took out more and more of the creatures. "And was this it? If so, it seems you're trying to get revenge on humanity for something one human did, that wasn't that much of an issue to you."

"IT IS AN ISSUE!" Mephiles screamed, as the dark creatures suddenly doubled in number. "MY LIFE… MY OTHER HALF WAS TAKEN FROM ME! MY YOU! YOU AND THAT INFERNAL KING! NOTHING GOOD CAN COME OF HUMANS!"

"I beg to disagree," Shadow said, still fighting and refusing to show the pain he was in. "Mario and Luigi-"

"Red and green? _Human_?" Mephiles laughed, as Shadow destroyed more of his shades. "I think you, of all people, would recognize the truth of those two! But no matter. They shall die, just as you shall!"

Shadow ignored Mephiles, attacking more of the shades as they kept coming endlessly.

"It doesn't matter how many you defeat, you know!" Mephiles called out. "They'll keep coming forever. And you can't go an eternity without sleep."

Shadow kept attacking, considering Mephiles' words. They were true – Though he was immune to age and sickness, plain old fatigue and injury were very real dangers to him. Somehow, he had to cut off these shadow beings at their source… And if that source was Mephiles, and if Mephiles was in his shadow…

Shadow realized what he had to do. He kept on defeating the enemies, but with a new purpose this time. As he destroyed each one, he used his mind to forcibly rip the Chaos Energy making up their bodies into his own, converting it from their negative energy to his own positive energy.

If he kept this up long enough, he'd be able to store enough to force Mephiles out.

"Your inevitable death will be a pleasure! Especially since you're so insistent on continuing this farce of a battle!"

Shadow ignored the comments of Mephiles. Just a little bit more Chaos Energy, and… Now.

Shadow allowed the energy to flow over his body, slightly healing his injuries and – More importantly – Ripping Mephiles out of his shadow. Shadow wasted no time in attacking the dark hedgehog.

"CHAOS SPEAR!" Shadow yelled, sending a pulse of yellow energy at Mephiles. Less than a second later, he was hurtling towards Mephiles to deliver him a kick. Before Mephiles could recover from that, Shadow snapped his fingers to produce a small burst of Chaos Energy right behind Mephiles, flinging him straight into a chaos-infused fist.

"So that's how it's played, is it?" Mephiles asked. "Fine. You want interesting? Your death is now interesting. Pity for you the ending hasn't changed! DANCE, MY SHADOWS, DANCE!"

More and more shades kept appearing, but they only served to slow Shadow down a bit. He was still able to land hits on Mephiles every once in awhile, slowly but surely bringing him down. Unfortunately, that also meant he was running low on Chaos Energy – If he ran out, Mephiles would likely be able to return to his shadow, and he might not make the same mistake twice.

"You feel it, don't you? Your strength sapping away as you fight this useless battle? As soon as your protection vanishes, so shall you! And then your friends! First, the red one, oh how I hate him! Then the green, the fox, and the echidna! And finally, when the time is right, down goes the broken blue hedgehog… And all of the failure will be undone."

Shadow attacked harder, both out of anger and to try and speed up the battle.

"It's pointless to push yourself, you'll just speed up the inevitable. Just give in and die!"

Shadow was continually weakening, but he didn't listen to Mephiles. If there was any chance to protect the world from this… Monster, he'd take it. He'd made a promise to the only family he'd ever had, and he did not intend to break it now.

Suddenly, without warning, a long, red tongue grabbed one of the shades. Quick as a flash, five more were devoured, and yet even more were destroyed by sudden machine gun fire.

"ANHILLATE!" Omega shouted.

"Yoshi! (Let's do it to it!)" His new companion yelled, tossing eggs which exploded on contact at the shades.

"Omega! And…"

"Yoshi!"

"Yoshi… Right."

"ROUGE REQUESTED ASSISTANCE FOR YOU. I AM HERE. YOSHI WAS LOST. WE WILL TAKE IT FROM HERE."

"_You'll _take it from here?" Mephiles asked incredulously. "A robot and a Yoshi-dragon with a death wish. Star Child or not, little dragon, death comes for you both!"

"INCORRECT. IT IS YOUR DESTRUCTION THAT IS IMMENINT." Omega shot Mephiles again, but Mephiles simply dodged.

"You are nothing more than an insignificant nuisance!" Mephiles yelled, just as Yoshi landed on his head with a ground pound. "Gah! How did-" But Yoshi had already hit the ground, running off to destroy more shades.

"FIRE!" Omega yelled, loading Shadow into his cannon and firing at Mephiles. "ANHILLATION!" He screamed, as he followed it up with a slash from his claws.

"HOW ARE YOU DOING THIS! JUST DIE – " Mephiles was interrupted by an three-foot diameter egg plowing through his shades and into his head, trailed by a rainbow of colors. It broke apart on him, revealing Yoshi, who wasted no time in head-butting him to the ground.

"PERISH!" Mephiles screamed, and the shades chased after Yoshi.

"ANHILLATE!" Omega yelled, firing missiles on all the shades following the little dragon, and one on Mephiles himself.

"WHAT DO YOU EVEN HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH?" Mephiles yelled. "I AM IMMORTAL! I CAN CONTROL THE VERY FLOW OF TIME AND SPACE! I WILL HAVE MY WAY, NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO! WHY DO YOU INSIST ON CONTINUING THIS CHARADE? YOU SHALL ALL PERISH! YOU CANNOT HOPE TO-"

While Omega and Yoshi had Mephiles distracted, and the latter was ranting about the others' total uselessness and the impossibility of them winning, Shadow zipped behind Mephiles as quietly as he could. Standing not two feet from the oblivious demonic hedgehog, Shadow focused all his energy on the emerald he sensed Omega had carried with him.

"CHAOS… BLAST!" Shadow yelled, a fiery explosing consuming Mephiles. When the smoke cleared, Mephiles could be seen down, but not out. The doppelganger stumbled to his feet, staring at the three who had defeated him.

Without a word, he took out the purple Chaos Emerald and used it to create a purple vortex in the air. He jumped in, and Shadow didn't even have time to think of where he'd managed to get the Chaos Emerald before dashing after Mephiles, pulling Yoshi and Omega in after him.

* * *

_Quick question: Did anyone honestly think I'd forgotten Yoshi was in the future?_


	16. Chapter 16 (Radical Train)

_Werewolf99: Anything more than a minor role still feels like cheapening them to me. Besides, I don't even HAVE any characters, so I couldn't really do it anyway. Making up my own characters based on a pre-existing setting never really appealed to me._

_Now it's the second day after the Festival of the Sun – Sonic and co don't have long to save the world, but… Well, I'm sure they'll manage._

_This is the longest chapter so far, because EVERYONE is here at once. Well, not quite everyone – A few characters are off somewhere else. But there's more here than anywhere else._

**Chapter 16 (Radical Train, Shadow VS Silver)**

* * *

Sonic, Mario, and Knuckles came out of a portal in the middle of Soleanna Castle Town, Sonic and Mario landing gracefully and Knuckles… Less so.

"Ugh… At least I didn't hit my head this time," Knuckles said as he picked himself up. "Hey… Uh… Where are Shadow, Rouge, Tails, and Luigi?"

"Luigi and Tails can take care of themselves," Mario said.

"So can the other two," Sonic added. "Wherever they are, they can handle it."

"I suppose you're right," Knuckles agreed.

"Yeah. They're fine, for sure," Mario said. "But we need to find out where Elise is, and whether or not it's tomorrow yet. Let's-a-go, and save the world!"

The three ran off to gather information about Elise's whereabouts.

Not two minutes after they were out of sight, Shadow and Omega emerged from another portal in the same location.

"YOUR SHADOW HAS FLED. I WILL ASSIST IN THE PURSUIT AND SUBSEQUENT ANHILLATION OF HIM."

"Yoshi help too! Need find Mario and Luigi anyway…"

"You're friends with those two?" Shadow asked.

"Yoshi Mario's best friend," Yoshi said proudly. "Help on adventures all time!"

"… Well, then I'll be honored to let you come along," Shadow said. "I have… Some amount of respect for Mario, even though I do not understand him."

"WE SHOULD FIND ROUGE," Omega said. "SHE WILL HAVE AN IDEA OF WHERE TO GO. SHE IS CURRENTLY IN THE WAREHOUSE DISTRICT."

"Yoshi know where that is," Yoshi said, dashing off at top speed.

Shadow and Omega were able to keep up, though, Shadow by simple virtue of his supersonic hoverskates, and Omega by his thrusters. It took no time at all for them to reach the warehouse district, where Rouge was snooping around looking for a way inside a warehouse. She looked up from her snooping, noticing them.

"Hi there! Glad to see you're back. Shadow, Omega, and… Are you one of Mario's friends?"

Yoshi nodded. "Yoshi!"

"Well, then, Yoshi. Back to the matter at hand – Shadow, Dr. Eggman has been searching for you since we disappeared yesterday. But, since you haven't been here since then, I can't imagine why he's looking for you."

"They're probably searching for Mephiles," Shadow said. "He referred to Iblis as his 'other half' while I was in the future. Judging by Eggman's past schemes, he likely wishes to unleash the Iblis of the present. I believe, however, that I should ask the good doctor myself."

"WITH VIOLENCE?" Omega asked eagerly.

"If necessary. But you aren't coming. I want you to try and track down Mephiles. See what he's up to." And with that, Shadow dashed off.

"He finally comes back, and then he leaves without even saying hello," Rouge said.

"THAT IS NO DIFFERENT THAN USUAL."

"I know… Anyway, Yoshi, why were you with – Oh come on!" Yoshi had dashed off after Shadow, leaving Rouge and Omega in his dust.

Rouge raised her wrist communicator to her mouth. "Hello? GUN HQ? I need some information, on an item called the Scepter of Darkness, the same I retrieved recently."

Shadow did notice Yoshi following him, but he didn't really care. What the reptile did wasn't his concern. Now, he just had to figure out where Dr. Eggman was going. He was wondering how he'd do that, when he saw Sonic and Mario dashing off towards Soleanna's train station, while Knuckles fell back, panting.

Deciding that that was probably a good lead, Shadow followed after them, ignoring Knuckles' complaint of "Why do they – keep running – ahead – can't go five hundred…" Yoshi stopped and gave Knuckles a fruit to help him feel better, before rushing off after Shadow again.

"… I get the feeling something big is going down," Knuckles said, as he munched on the giant berry Yoshi had pulled out of… Wherever it was they kept things, Knuckles had never really thought about it much. It was actually helping a lot in making him feel more energized. "… Let's see if I can figure anything out while they're in the action."

* * *

On the way back from White Acropolis, Silver had managed to find an odd glowing blue jewel in the snow. He decided to keep it, for luck, and because it was somewhat pretty. He didn't bother telling Daisy about it.

Daisy had managed to recover from her battle last night quite easily, and now she and Silver were looking for clues as to where Sonic could have gone. Silver would've liked to do it sooner, but Daisy had insisted on practicing her new technique until she could master it. She hadn't been able to do much until Silver suggested she use the rings that were scattered everywhere, and she'd found that as long as she had some of them, she could use it endlessly, until she burned through all the rings' energy.

"You're sure that fighting him is the answer?" Daisy asked, as they walked through castle town.

"No," Silver admitted. "But if it's not, he probably has the answers. Now, if only we knew where…" Suddenly, Silver stopped, seeing a familiar face. "Mephiles!" He ran over to the black hedgehog with teal stripes.

"Silver," Mephiles greeted plainly. "The Iblis Trigger still lives."

"I know, I know," Silver said. "He had some strong allies, like this man wearing red that-"

Mephiles growled.

"Uh… Anyway… Just who is he? How does he end the world?"

"Does it even matter?" Mephiles asked. "What is one life, compared to billions? He can be found at the train station. Do not fail this time." He skated off, leaving Silver and Daisy alone.

"… Silver, I need to tell you something," Daisy said. "I don't think he can be trusted. A… Friend, I guess you could say, of mine, said he saw someone who looks like him come out of a dark artifact."

"Don't be silly," Silver said. "That sort of thing doesn't really happen. Come on, we've got a blue hedgehog to take care of." He ran off to look for the train station, and Daisy sighed before following.

_Wario, I swear on the stars… If you're wrong about this kid…_

* * *

"I should've known I couldn't get rid of you forever!" Dr. Eggman's voice shouted, seeming to be all over the canyon that the train rails were in and over. "But no matter. Why chase after me, when you could instead save that train full of innocent passengers barreling through the canyon straight towards a bomb? I think the choice is clear to you."

Sonic didn't even bother letting Eggman finish before he blasted through the sound barrier, taking off after the train. Mario took off as well, but not having Sonic's speed, he was forced to keep up by using his agility to make himself a shorter path. And, of course, they were slowed down by Eggman's robots on the way.

"This is a new low!" Mario yelled as he hopped, skipped, and jumped his way past obstacles. "I mean, putting innocents in danger? Is this something Eggman usually does?"

"Sometimes!" Sonic yelled back, as a row of robots was taken out by a seven hundred miles per hour sliding kick. "But never like this!"

Mario landed next to Sonic, grabbing his hand and dashing forwards towards the edge of a platform. He made a huge jump, closing a lot of the distance between them and the train.

"I only hope we manage to get ahead of it before the bomb gets there," Sonic said.

* * *

Shadow had also heard Eggman's message, but had chosen a different path. Instead of chasing the passenger train, as he was sure that would be Sonic's choice, he chased Eggman's train. The path he took was significantly less winding than Sonic's, though the train was also significantly faster. He and Yoshi were still able to catch up to the train, though.

"Shadow?!" Eggman asked in surprise. "And some green dino?"

"Dragon," a staticy, growly, voice corrected Eggman. "He's a dragon. Hurry up and get here! I've got a lock on another Emerald!"

Shadow and Yoshi attacked Eggman's train with Chaos Spears and Egg Rolls. "Gah! Stupid… Bowser, I've got some issues to deal with. I'll speak with you later." Suddenly, missile launchers came out of the side of the train and started shooting at the two chasers. Yoshi just ate them, and sent them right back as exploding eggs.

"Eggman!" Shadow yelled. "Why are you looking for Mephiles?"

"What's it to you?" was Eggman's reply. "It's not like you can do anything about it, anyway."

Shadow shot another Chaos Spear at the train, damaging it further.

"It's my business," Shadow said. "Now, tell me!"

"Ask all you want," Eggman said, not even concerned over the damage his train had taken. "It's not going to help you anyway."

* * *

Daisy was, frankly, bored. And worried – Silver still wouldn't listen to reason, almost as if he had never doubted Mephiles. He thought what she said was ridiculous, despite coming from the future himself.

There really was nothing to do here – Smash some killer robots, defeat some of Bowser's minions, and let Silver move things around with his Psychokinesis so they could check absolutely everywhere. While he was doing this, Dasiy decided it was high time to ask him again.

"Look, Silver. Sonic – The Iblis Trigger, as you say – I've heard a bit about him, even though I've never met him. He's supposed to be a hero, he's saved the world a few times."

"But he caused the end of the world! It could've been a ruse!" Silver argued, as he moved a crane to reach another area.

"Or maybe the trigger is his failure, and we've got to make sure he doesn't die," Daisy said. "Did you even think of that?"

"Then why would Mephiles send us here?" Silver asked, though he was sounding a bit doubtful. "He's got to have a reason."

"I don't know," Daisy said. "But I don't think he's trustworthy."

* * *

Shadow continued to chase after Eggman's train, doing more and more damage. He'd almost managed to completely destroy the train, but Eggman wasn't bothered. He was just sitting in his Eggmobile at the front, Soleanna's princess held captive, and calmly waiting for something.

"What are you playing at, doctor?" Shadow asked. "What's your goal this time?"

"My goal is unchanged, Shadow. I am merely using another method. Now, if you'll excuse me, my stop is coming up." Eggman pushed a button on his Eggmobile's console, causing it to eject from the train and said train to blow up in Shadow's and Yoshi's faces. Coughing, Shadow looked up to see the Eggmobile floating down into another train on a track just too far for either him or Yoshi to jump to, which as soon as it landed took off with a boom and a shockwave that knocked Yoshi off his feet again.

* * *

Twenty feet. The train was twenty feet away from the bomb as they finally managed to pull in front of it. At the very last second, Mario managed to grab the bomb and throw it into the abyss below, as Sonic zoomed past, pulling him out of the train's path.

"Whew," Sonic said, wiping his brow. "That was a close one! I'm glad everyone is okay. Now, let's get to cracking the Egghead wide open. Where's he-"

On the other track that ran right next to the strip of land Sonic had tackled Mario onto, a train with Eggman's insignia zipped past – So fast that Mario could hardly see it, but Sonic could.

"Elise is probably on that train!" Sonic exclaimed, grabbing Mario's wrist. "Hang on, Mario. This is gonna get really bumpy, and REALLY fast." Sonic took off, blasting through the sound barrier in a second. Mario was amazed at how fast they were going – He'd never gone this fast before, not even once. And, to his surprise, Sonic was still speeding up, catching up to the train. The ground blurred below them, and Mario couldn't make out anything nearby. All the sounds he could manage to make out sounded like they'd been put through a blender, they were so jumbled together.

Another couple of seconds, and Sonic was blasting through the canyon at his top speed – Easily three times as fast as Mario himself could run, his feet only touching the ground once every ten feet or so. Any obstacles in their way were obliterated as Sonic blasted through them, robots, boulders, and unused railway cars alike.

In about ten seconds, it was over – Sonic hit the train moving at Mach 2, blasting through all the cars and grabbing Elise on the way through.

Sonic skidded to a halt, stopping nearly a mile past where he'd blasted through the train, and let Mario and Elise down.

"You guys came for me!" Elise exclaimed. "I knew you would! Thank you."

"You're welcome," Mario said. "But it's Sonic you should be thanking right now – He's the one who caught up to that train. I couldn't have done that."

"Heh, yeah, but don't sell yourself short, Mario," Sonic said. "I can't jump like you can."

"Well, thanks, but-" Mario suddenly tackled Sonic to the ground, helping him avoid a blast of blue energy.

Silver was standing not twenty feet away from where they'd stopped, holding his hand out at them.

"You again!" Sonic exclaimed. "What's your deal, anyway?"

"The Iblis trigger must die!" Silver yelled. "This time, there will be no interruptions!" He grabbed Mario and Sonic in his psychic hold, lifting them up. "And I'm not making the mistake of underestimating you again!"

While Mario and Sonic were preoccupied, Eggman zoomed past in his Eggmobile and kidnapped Elise again.

"So long, Sonic!" Eggman yelled. "I'll leave you to him! But Elise is an integral part of my plans!"

"Elise!" Sonic yelled, but Silver tightened his hold on them.

"NO INTERRUPTIONS! It's time to end this!"

Before Silver got a chance, Shadow and Yoshi dropped in front of him, blocking Mario and Sonic from his view. Shadow's appearance surprised Silver – He actually believed him to be Mephiles at first.

"Mephiles! Why are you helping him?"

"I am not Mephiles," Shadow said. "I am Shadow the Hedgehog. I believe you have been led astray."

Yoshi pulled Mario onto his back, motioning for Sonic to follow them away while Silver was distracted.

"You too? First Daisy, and now some person I've never met? Does everyone want the world to end?!" Silver yelled. "I'll stop you too!"

Silver blasted Shadow with a psychic knife, which Shadow was able to dissipate by countering with Chaos Spear. Silver snapped his fingers, disappearing and reappearing behind Shadow. Shadow sensed him, though, and countered with a roundhouse kick to Silver's head.

Silver was flung backwards, but managed to catch himself in time before teleporting away again.

_How is he doing that?_ Shadow asked himself. _That's NOT Chaos Control._ Ten seconds later, Silver reappeared, holding a gigantic ball of barrels, boulders, and assorted rubble above Shadow. Shadow reacted quickly, using Chaos Control to freeze time and move out of the way before the ball crushed him. While time was still frozen, he hopped on top of the ball and initiated a Homing Attack at Silver – He slammed the white hedgehog down into his own ball of trash just before time unfroze.

Silver groaned, but was still able to teleport away before Shadow could attack him again. Silver reappeared above Shadow, slamming to the ground with his Psycho Shock attack. Shadow was stunned by the attack, and Silver, instead of attacking again, decided it was high time for some answers. He grabbed Shadow in his psychic hold, and brought him into the air.

"Why are you aiding the Iblis Trigger!" Silver yelled.

"Why are you aiding Mephiles? He's the one who truly destroyed your world!" Shadow yelled back. "CHAOS CONTROL!" Shadow teleported himself behind Silver, and kicked the hedgehog in the back of the head. "That was Chaos Control. So long as I have a Chaos Emerald, I can warp time and space to my will. There's no way you can break free. Now, are you going to come onto the right side, or not!"

"I AM ON THE RIGHT SIDE!" Silver yelled as he got up, his raised voice betraying a bit of doubt. He took out the blue Chaos Emerald, to Shadow's surprise.

Shadow rushed forward with his own emerald "Chaos-"

"Chaos-" Silver began.

"CONTROL!" both yelled, as they met each other. Just as before, a rift opened in between them. Shadow was stunned, though not quite so literally this time.

"… Just who are you?" Shadow asked. "You initiated Chaos Control."

"So did you!" Silver yelled back. "So what?!"

"Very few are capable of using those powers."

"I don't care! I'll change the past, and save the world from Sonic!"

"I told you, it's Mephiles we need to worry about," Shadow said. "Look. This all started ten years ago. If you need proof of what happened, follow me into the portal. We'll go see what really happened. Then, you can decide which side you're really on."

"… Fine," Silver said, snarling. "I'll go. But you're wrong, I know it!" Shadow and Silver jumped into the rift, which closed behind them.

One of the two figures hiding in the shadows spoke to the other.

"Told ya he was important," Wario said to Daisy. "And, thank you for your part."

"I didn't manage to succeed in changing his mind…" Daisy said.

"Nah, but he's stubborn. You made him doubt. I think that'll be enough," Wario said.

"It better be," Daisy said, grumpily. "What's your goal, anyway?"

"I'm saving the world," Wario said, holding up his red Chaos Emerald. "If there's no world, there will be no treasure to hunt."

"Of course. Well, Mr. 'I'm only in this for the money and I totally don't actually care about my rival's wellbeing', what do you want me to do next?"

"… Not sure. For now, though, meet up with DK and Diddy. Tell them I've got some bananas for their good work of clearing out that jungle. I'm going to try and get more information, and maybe some more help, if I can find Waluigi." Wario held up his Emerald. "CHAOS CONTROL!"


	17. Chapter 17 (VS Bowser & Eggman)

_Werewolf99: I'll explain why certain Mario characters can use it eventually, but for now it's a secret because it ties into the ending. I will give a hint, though: In this story, there are seven Mario characters who can use the Emeralds. Four are humans, or look human. They all have something in common. And heck no, I wouldn't want them to even be able to compare._

_This is really coming along, isn't it? Man, I'd forgotten how much __**fun**__ this was! That other fic I mentioned is coming along, too... Actually, there's two I have planned. One of them is almost definitely happening, and it's a Sonic fic - No Mario characters whatsoever, and I've already written the first couple of chapters. The other is solely a Mario fic, and might be multi-chapter, might just be a oneshot, or might not happen. Both are similar ideas - Though because of what they are, that doesn't mean they're similar to each other. If anyone wants to figure that out, go for it!_

**Chapter 17 (VS Bowser &amp; Eggman)**

* * *

"Now, stop it, Elise. You have nowhere to go," Eggman said, as Elise was standing up in his Eggmobile.

"I would rather die than be your prisoner again!"

"What are you going to do, anyway? Jump? You're no Mario Brother, I can tell you that."

Elise was tired of this man. Tired of his constant kidnappings of her. Tired of the fact that it seemed there was nothing she could do about it. Down on the ground below, she could faintly see a blur of blue and red. Making up her mind, she did exactly what Eggman had 'suggested'. She leapt off the hovercar, straight towards the grassy valley below.

"Farewell!"

"HUH?" Eggman yelled. He wasn't expecting this, not at all. He was even more surprised when a red-clad plumber who had somehow obtained wings on his hat swooped in and rescued Elise. Mario flew back down, alighting next to Sonic and Yoshi, and setting Elise on Yoshi's back.

Mario reached into midair, a giant sparkling white feather appearing in his hands as the wings faded from his cap. "Get her to safety, Yoshi." He gave Yoshi the feather, and Yoshi gained wings on his back. Yoshi took off as fast as he could with Elise, leaving Mario and Sonic to face Dr. Eggman.

Eggman took a moment to send a message to Bowser, telling the Koopa to show up and help deal with these guys ASAP. As soon as they were out of the way, Elise would be easy pickings.

"Allow me to introduce you to my latest creation, Sonic!" Eggman said, pressing a button to have the Egg Genesis, a colossal four-armed orange robot, fly into their little battlefield and hove in the air, right near Eggman himself. "This is the Egg Genesis. I'm quite sure it's more than a match for you."

"Seriously, Egghead?" Sonic laughed.

"EGGMAN! YOU KNOW IT'S EGGMAN!"

"I could beat your bots in my sleep! And I've got Mario here, too. What do you plan on doing about that, huh?"

"I'm working on-" Suddenly, a massive flash of light appeared as Bowser dropped from the sky, a shining white gem in his hand. "… That. Your timing is impeccable, Bowser."

"Warping the fabric of space and time is no small feat," Bowser said, spinning his Chaos Emerald on a claw. "But, hey, I'm the big, burly, king of awesome! No big deal for ME. I'm here to… Level the playing field a bit. GWAHARAR! Today's the day you vanish, Mario!"

"To each their own?" Sonic asked.

Mario nodded, and dashed after Bowser.

"I was hoping for that!" Sonic dashed towards Eggman's newest mech, as the machine let out a few smaller badniks to try and take care of Sonic. These were just a simple flying model, nothing special about them.

Unfortunately for them, they were _flying_. Sonic jumped up, and homing attacked the bots repeatedly, landing on one of the Egg Genesis's arms.

"You little! Upper cannons, shoot him down!" The Egg Genesis didn't get a chance to follow Eggman's order, as Sonic was already bouncing on its head. It did manage to fling Sonic off, with the hedgehog landing gracefully back on the ground. The arm Sonic had run up had exploded, which gave him the hint that this thing wasn't built for close-up encounters. He could use that.

Mario, meanwhile, was facing off against Bowser. Bowser was using his Chaos Emerald to warp around Mario, teleporting to his heart's content. Every once in awhile, he'd cause a small shockwave with his weight or send his screaming jet-fire at Mario. Mario, of course, being very experienced with everything Bowser could throw at him, dodged everything. Bowser, despite his advantage, couldn't quite manage to dodge Mario's stomps. Mario managed to knock the Chaos Emerald out of Bowser's hand, but neither bothered going for it – Instead, they just traded punches and kicks, trying to get through each other's defenses.

"Give up, Mario!" Bowser yelled, as his punch was deflected by a powerful kick from the five-foot plumber. "You're never going to win, you know! Nothing can stand in my way this time!"

"Calling me and _mio fratello_ nothing?" Mario asked, as he landed a kick on Bowser's knee. "We've been stopping you for five years, Bowser!"

"This time is different!" Bowser roared, as he and Mario met each other with blasts of fire.

The Egg Genesis had started shooting missiles at Sonic – At least twenty of them at once.

"Heh, time to pick up the pace?" Sonic asked. "Fine, be my guest! Catch me if ya can!" A plan forming, Sonic dashed over to where Mario and Bowser were fighting, standing between Bowser's back and the missiles, entering a spin dash. At the last moment, Sonic shot off, zipping in between two missiles and causing all of them to hit Bowser.

"GRAH!" Bowser stumbled, allowing Mario to land a solid kick to his stomach that sent him sprawling. "Watch where you're shooting those things!" He yelled as he got back up.

"Sorry!" Eggman yelled back. "I was trying to get Sonic! Wait, where did Sonic…"

Sonic had used the distraction to spin dash up one of the walls of the valley, and had leapt off of it, landing right on the Egg Genesis's head. He bounced on it a few times more, bringing another of its arms down. "Take that, Egghead!"

"You little…"

"Ever gonna finish that sentence, Egghead?" Sonic asked, as he dodged more missiles for his nemesis. He hadn't been able to get these to go to Bowser, but, oh well. Can't do everything.

Speaking of Bowser, he was not having fun with Mario right now. The plumber had decided to turn it into a hammer fight, powering up himself with a Hammer Suit. Bowser was matching each of his hammers with one of his own, glad that he shared this ability with Hammer Bros. But, in the end, Mario's reflexes were still better than his were – He dodged some of Bowser's hammers, prepared to throw some of his own towards Bowser's right arm… But instead just threw them straight at his head.

Bowser reacted quickly, but it wasn't quick enough – One of the four hammers still managed to whack him painfully in the nose.

He roared, and charged at Mario. Mario ran away, and Bowser grinned. Ha! He had the plumber now…

Sonic had his own issues – As it turned out, the Egg Genesis also had a giant laser that it kept shooting at him. But Eggman's designs proved themselves in the end, once again – They were stupid. It released more robots, and Sonic repeated the technique he'd used on the first arm – Homing attack, run, bounce.

"YOU HORRID LITTLE HEDGEHOG! STOP WINNING!"

"Yeah, how about no?" Sonic asked, grinning widely as he dashed up another valley wall. He dodged more missiles from Eggman, focusing on charging his own energy all the while. He wanted to end this with a bang, and he knew just how to do it. As a missile was about to hit him, he leapt off the wall, using said missile as a stepping stone to get closer to the Egg Genesis. He was able to land on the last arm, his body now glowing blue. He ran forward, right near the head, and unleashed the Light Attack. Sonic dashed around and through the robot so fast he couldn't be seen as more than a flash of blue, dealing utterly devastating damage.

He landed back on the ground, having taken out all four arms and the head of the robot. He thought he was done, before the laser started charging up again. He smirked, ready to take it out, but something else happened that prevented that.

While Sonic had been taking out the last two arms, Mario had been tricking Bowser. He'd run away from Bowser, just letting the giant Koopa keep up with him. He knew Bowser wouldn't see anything weird with that, and was counting on it. After a little bit of running, when he was sure Bowser wouldn't suspect a thing, he braked, pulling off a jump just as he turned around. He cartwheeled over Bowser, grabbing the Koopa's tail just as he landed.

"… Aw crud," Bowser said, as Mario started swinging him around like some massive, living hammer. Once he'd built up enough speed and Bowser was facing the right way, Mario let go – Flinging Bowser straight into the Egg Genesis, which of course had no chance of surviving being hit by a gigantic, two-ton, near-invulnerable Koopa. It exploded, flinging Bowser into Eggman's Eggmobile and both far away from their location.

"Aw, yeah! That's how it's done!" Sonic yelled, doing a breakdancing victory pose. Mario joined in, with a peace sign and a "Mario's number one!"

"Better catch up with Yoshi, now," Sonic said, about to take off. He stopped, though, when he noticed the white Chaos Emerald by his foot. "Oh, right. Don't wanna forget this!" He picked it up, storing it… Wherever he puts it, and he and Mario took off for the jungle Yoshi had headed into.

* * *

Surprisingly to Mario and Sonic, they were met with minimal resistance in the jungle – They easily managed to catch up to the still-winged Yoshi and Princess Elise, who were resting in a clearing with a lake, and a beautiful tree in bloom.

"Sonic! Mario!" Elise exclaimed, rushing to the two heroes. "I… I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for me. Rescuing me… And letting me see places, like this!" She gestured around to the beauty of the jungle around her. "I can't believe something like this is here… Have you ever visited wonderful places like this before?"

"Yeah," Sonic said. "It's what I do – I go to wonderful places, and stop Eggman from making them not-so-wonderful."

"And you've never seen anything like the Mushroom Kingdom," Mario said. "It's… My home, it's something you need to experience in person."

Elise nodded. "And… Once Bowser and Eggman are defeated… You're both going to leave, aren't you? And all your friends?"

Sonic didn't say anything, but simply nodded. It was true, he was going to leave… Evil never rests, after all.

"… Though I have been frightened many times, I must admit, I've enjoyed this adventure. I was able to be something other than a princess… I was able to be myself."

"I'm glad I was able to help that happen," Sonic said. "Even if the circumstances aren't the great. As long as people are safe and happy… Well, I am too."

"And me, as well," Mario said.

"But… I still love this country. Everything in it… Just as my late father and mother did…" Elise said. "… I have to be strong, for my people. Mario, Sonic… Remember this place, when you leave. I think… I'm ready to go back to the castle, now."

Mario and Sonic nodded, and Elise climbed back onto Yoshi's back. The three took off, back to the castle where Elise's subjects awaited her return.

Elise smiled, trying hard not to cry at the thought. These people had put aside everything… Just to help her and her people. But she mustn't cry – A strong queen doesn't cry. She was still just a princess, but she had to be strong, for her people.


	18. Chapter 18 (Silver & Shadow)

_Werewolf99: Except neither of those is what I want at all. Here's the thing – I don't like __**reading**__ that kind of story, so I'm certainly not going to write one. If you don't understand why I don't like reading it, that's fine. But I hope you can understand that because I don't, I don't like writing it. And if not, then... Oh well. Different people are different. And honestly, I'd rather talk about other things._

**Chapter 18 (Silver &amp; Shadow)**

* * *

Shadow and Silver dropped to the floor, Shadow instantly taking in their surroundings. They were in some sort of base – Rather like one of Dr. Eggman's many laboratories, in fact. The lighting was odd, and rather blue, almost as if it were underwater. "I still don't believe you, you know," Silver said. "But if this can help save the world, fine. If you're wrong…"

"I am _not_ wrong, but your point is considered," Shadow said. "Now, where do we look for the truth…"

An explosion sounded in the distance, prompting Shadow to grab Silver by the hand and drag him down the hall to it. They arrived in a room, with shattered glass littering the floor. On the floor, lying on his side, was a man Shadow recognized from Rouge's data-digging she'd always do while he pretended he wasn't listening – the Duke of Soleanna. Shadow ran over to the man, and began shaking him.

"Is that…" Silver asked, from his position by a scientist he had been shaking awake. Shadow turned to the center of the room, seeing a small ball of flame inside a broken capsule, hovering above what appeared to be a liquid shadow. "It's Iblis!"

"And that black shadow is Mephiles," Shadow said, recognizing what had come out of the Scepter of Darkness.

"THAT'S Mephiles?" Silver asked. "… How?" He noticed that Iblis and Mephiles were now running away. "Hey! We gotta stop them from escaping!"

"I'll take Mephiles," Shadow said. "He is my battle."

"Leave Iblis to me," Silver said, clenching his fist.

"w-wait!" a weak voice behind Shadow said. Shadow turned to the Duke of Soleanna, who was struggling to get up, holding something familiar to the genetically-engineered hedgehog in his hand.

"Seal it with this…" the Duke said, handing Shadow the Scepter of Darkness. Shadow took it, running off with Silver to leave the duke with his daughter.

Almost immediately after leaving the laboratory, they managed to get into a fight. Iblis-monsters attacked them, giant flaming worms and lizards of evil. Shadow took the lead, blasting everything he came near with Chaos Spear. Once the Iblis monsters were defeated, the two hedgehogs continued to the next room – Which was much larger, and, of course, had more monsters.

There were tons in the large circular room, again all minions of Iblis. Along with the kinds of monsters in the previous room, there were fiery birds as well. Shadow and Silver worked together to defeat them, taking out as many as they could.

"Do you believe me now?" Shadow asked, as he spin dashed through one of the fire lizards.

"I'm not sure one way or another right now," Silver admitted, levitating himself and Shadow up to a higher platform that he thought he'd seen a sliver of shadow ooze up. The next room was filled with pits that were who-knows-how-deep… So Silver levitated them across the pit and let Shadow just throw Chaos Spears at all the Iblis Monsters in the way. Once they were at the other side, they were met by a breathtaking sight out the window.

"… We're underwater," Shadow said. "… Wow…"

"That's really cool!" Silver said. "… Wish I could swim. But we need to get going, and stop Iblis and what you say is Mephiles!" They left the room, coming to another, almost identical one. Silver used the same method as before, but they met an even larger Iblis monster at the other side. A few well-timed conveniently-placed crates to the head and it was out, though. Soon after, they met their first shadow creature, a sort of low-down, doglike creature, which Shadow wasted no time in wasting with a homing attack.

"You gotta teach me that when the world isn't in mortal danger," Silver said.

"How are Iblis and Mephiles so powerful even in this primitive state?" Shadow asked, as Silver levitated them across yet another gap.

"I have no idea… But Iblis did destroy the world, remember?"

"Oh, yes, that reminds me. Silver? When you go back to your own time… Even if you fail your mission, Iblis is gone."

"What?!" Silver dropped Shadow, and if they hadn't reached the other side of the gap, things wouldn't be looking so good for the black hedgehog right about now.

"Mario – That man in red with the fire abilities – Destroyed it himself once it had been weakened enough. I still don't know how he did what he did, but I felt you should know."

"That… that's great news!" Silver exclaimed as he hit the switch he'd found, opening the door to the next room. He and Shadow ran through, coming to a hallway with a fork. Down one hall, there were Iblis monsters, and down the other, shadowy creatures could be seen.

"But now… If we don't act, that may not be the case. Silver, take the left path. I will take the right. Iblis and Mephiles must be taken down. Once we're done… Use Chaos Control to escape the base, because I don't know how to leave."

The hedgehogs parted ways, Shadow taking the path filled with the shadow creatures, and Silver the path with the fire monsters. Both quickly made their way through, each coming to a dead end where their adversary lay in wait.

* * *

Silver used his psychokinesis to hold Iblis in place. Despite being the same being as Silver had fought and failed to stop in his own time, it was too weak to break out of the psychic hold Silver had on it, though it still gave him some trouble. It also helped that Silver had gotten quite a bit stronger since then.

Silver looked away for a moment, towards a sound he'd heard, and found the Duke of Soleanna carrying his daughter into the room and laying her down under Iblis's tiny form.

"Hey! You've got to leave! It's too dangerous here," Silver said.

"I have my duty! This is my responsibility. The Flames of Disaster will gain strength, and overpower you if nothing is done to stop them. If that happens, all is lost. Let me do what I must… You have brought something here that I require, though. Please, allow me to use the Chaos Emerald."

"How did you-"

"Those who can use the Emeralds can also find them. Though as a human, I have very little ability to use them, I have enough to do what must be done."

Silver nodded, giving the Duke his blue Chaos Emerald. The Duke held it over his daughter, and began to speak. "Eternal Sun! The Living Flame that has been entrusted to the royal family! Fall into slumber, with a royal soul!" The flames were sucked into the Chaos Emerald, which sent a beam of light down into the young Princess Elise. The Duke gave Silver back the Emerald. "It is done," the Duke said, seeming close to tears and passing out as he lifted his daughter into his arms.

"Can you… Take her to a safe place, for me?" the Duke asked. "I'm afraid… I'm not in perfect health…"

Silver nodded, taking the young girl from her father. The Duke started stroking Elise's hair, speaking to her.

"Remember, Elise… Be a brave, strong leader for your people… Don't cry, no matter what happens. Otherwise… Your tears will call forth the flames inside of you…"

Silver said nothing yet. He'd just witnessed, even taken part in, the sealing of Iblis inside this little girl. And Sonic the Hedgehog was nowhere to be found... So, then, how could he have caused the end of the world?

_He couldn't. _Silver realized. _Or, he wouldn't… He can't directly cause it, and if what his friends say are true, then…_

He looked at the little girl in his arms.

… _I've been wrong all along._

"… And… live… happily," the Duke said, struggling to breathe.

"Are you okay?" Silver asked.

"No… I… am afraid… That ritual… In this state… I am not," the Duke said, growing quieter with each word. "But… I am glad… To have protected my people… my daughter…" He collapsed to the ground, unconscious, with his breathing growing ever quieter and more wheezing with each passing second.

Silver didn't stay to see the man die – with Elise in one arm, he took out his Chaos Emerald, and used it to quietly Chaos Control away.

* * *

"Chaos Control!" were Shadow's first words as he entered the room Mephiles was in, immobilizing him before he had a chance to even notice Shadow's presence.

"What? Stop this at once! I command you!" Mephiles' voice rose out of the liquid mass of shadows on the floor.

Shadow said nothing, and simply raised the Scepter of Darkness in one hand, and the green Chaos Emerald in the other. Both began to glow as he focused his thoughts on what he needed to do.

"Who are you? What do you intend by sealing me away?"

"I am Shadow the Hedgehog. I am the Ultimate Lifeform. I made a promise to protect this world from those like you."

"… You… I shall remember you for this," Mephiles said, in a calmer tone than Shadow had ever heard him use as he was pulled into the Scepter. "And surely, you shall die!" Mephiles could say no more, as the last of him was pulled into the Scepter.

"Chaos Control," Shadow said calmly.

Shadow and Silver both appeared outside, in Kingdom Valley, Shadow with the Scepter of Darkness, and Silver with Elise. Shadow set the Scepter of Darkness on the ground, nodding to Silver.

"… So, it's done?" Silver asked quietly. "… So… So am I… But… Shadow, I believe you now. And this girl… Her father…"

"Silver, if it hadn't happened, the future may have been in a far worse state," Shadow said, already having a good idea of what Silver was talking about.

"But… That's not fair!"

"It isn't," Shadow agreed. "And I'm sorry it happened. I know how it feels more than you may believe. But, yet, if she hadn't died… Where would I be today?"

"Who?"

"It doesn't concern you, Silver," Shadow said. "My point is, if everything is changed, you don't know what is left. Maybe that's lost on you, maybe it isn't. But we need to return, now."

Silver nodded, laying Elise back down against a tree. Together, holding their Chaos Emeralds up, they let out simultaneous cries of "Chaos Control!" As the rift appeared, Silver could only think of one thing – _He's right... if __I succeed, what IS left for me?_

* * *

_Silver has finally seen who is wrong and who is right… Too bad he had to go through all that for it to happen. And, of course, this probably poses some questions, which is the idea. He's one answer: Wario, Mario, Luigi, and Peach are not, by any means, normal. Daisy and Waluigi are, to an extent, but there's something special about the other four. Something that's canon, and that I've referenced previously, though what it **means** isn't defined. You'll see soon enough._


	19. Chapter 19

_We're really coming up on the ending soon… Again, this has been a lot of fun!_

**Chapter 19**

* * *

It wasn't long before returning Princess Elise to the castle that Dr. Eggman flew his airship over town. Mario, Sonic, and Yoshi had been taking a short walk through the forest as this happened, so they didn't know what was going on.

"Princess Elise!" Eggman's voice came over a huge speaker from his airship. "We have a deal for you."

"Meet us in the warehouse district immediately," Bowser's voice picked up. "And if you don't, we'll burn your city to the ground!"

"In so many words, yes, that is our plan. Choose carefully, princess. It's you or your people. What'll it be?"

Elise's servants looked at her, unsure of what she'd do.

"I don't think that's really a choice," Elise said, determination evident on her face. "I have to protect my people. I'm going. No one try to stop me – That's an order."

* * *

Peach, Amy, and the Toads were walking through the city, discussing plans on rescuing Elise when they heard this announcement.

"… She got out?" Amy asked. "… I guess… But, then, what happens now?"

"… She's going to go," Peach said. "Come on. We're going to follow her."

"Princess, what if they get you, too?" Yvan asked.

"Doesn't matter," Peach decided. "I've gotta help people. It's what Mario would do, isn't it?"

"Mario's awesome!" Wolley said randomly. "He beat the hands made of rock in a pyramid!"

"… Wolley, I'm not sure that happene," Yvan said. "… Okay, princess. But don't think you're leaving us behind!"

"Yeah!" Amy agreed. "Let's do this! For Sonic!"

* * *

Wario dropped to the cracked, charred ground in a flash of light, a thin, stick-like man in purple next to him.

"Waa, why are we even doing this, when I could be looking for Luigi to torment him?" Waluigi asked, taking in the landscape, the unusually charred islands, the volcanoes in the distance, and the huge pools of magma floating everywhere, and the giant castle in the distance. "And what's this place, anyway?"

"Waluigi, do you even know what's going on?"

"… No, so tell me!"

"You know Mario and Luigi went on vacation to Soleanna, right?"

"Duh. How do you think I spend my time? NOT spying on Luigi? NOT stealing their plane to make epicly random entrances?"

"… Nevermind that. There's a big, world-ending thing going on, Waluigi. I've been using this little beauty here to teleport around, getting all the information I can. Mostly by spying. We're going to stop it."

"Since when do you care about the world?" Waluigi asked. "If everyone's gone, you get to go in and get all the gold!"

"Okay, I admit, that part would be cool," Wario said. "… But part of the fun of getting money is looking for it. It's why I go treasure hunting even through I'm rich already. If the world ends, there'll be nowhere to go treasure hunting anymore. Nowhere to look for new riches. No rivals to get the better of."

"… No rivals to… That sounds terrible. HEY, WORLD!" Waluigi yelled out. "You want to end? TOO BAD! WALUIGI TIME!"

"Wa-ha-ha-ha!" Wario laughed. "That's what I wanted to hear! Now, come on. We're looking for some sort of magic seal. Bowser's bound to have a couple lying around somewhere."

"Huh? This is Bowser's place?" Waluigi asked, looking around. "… Shoulda guessed."

"Yes, you should have. Now, come on. Bowser's evil scavenging habits are going to help us save the world."

"And make it so we can continue to torment Luigi!"

"… Yeah, that's why…"

"And then you can let me use that, what was it, chaotic ruby thing?" Waluigi asked, pointing to the Chaos Emerald in Wario's hand.

"It's a Chaos Emerald. And you can't use it, Waluigi."

"Why won't you let me?"

"I mean you don't have the ability!" Wario shouted. "Come on, we've got to go now."

"Party pooper."

* * *

Silver jumped out of the portal, landing next to the last face he expected to see right then – Daisy was waiting for him in Soleanna Castle Town already.

"So… You found out what you needed to?" she asked.

"… Yeah," Silver said dejectedly. "… How did you know?"

"Like I said, a… Not quite a friend, but someone I know, tipped me off. I don't know how he knew, I think he just spied on people and pieced things together."

"… So he asked you to come to me?"

"… Yeah," Daisy said guiltily. "Sorry for not telling you earlier. But… Well, honestly, I wasn't sure if I could trust EITHER of you. He's not well known for being a compassionate person. I'm actually surprised he even cares what happens to the world."

"… Oh… Um… I'm really not sure what to think, right now," Silver said, sitting down. "… I messed up, big time. I almost killed their hero! And I couldn't save that guy… Iblis was imprisoned in his daughter… Elise, I think was her name?"

Daisy gasped. "Oh, no! That's why… Oh, crud, oh CRUD!" She began pacing back and forth frantically.

"What is it?" Silver asked. "What happened?"

"Bowser and Dr. Eggman asked the people's princess to come to them – They're already flying her over to Kingdom Valley, in fact. We need to – Elise is the princess, Silver! I think… Bowser and Eggman want to use the Flames of Disaster!"

"What?" Silver asked. "They don't know what they're doing!"

"I don't know Eggman, but, yeah, Bowser's pretty clueless! He causes destruction by being careless… I don't even know how often!"

"We've gotta do something," Silver said. Daisy grabbed his hand. "Huh?"

"Hang on tight, Silver," Daisy said. "We're going up, over, and… GONE!" Daisy activated her Flower Dash, or, rather, what she was coming to think of as 'Flower Boost', and zipped off towards the forested area near town, leaving a sonic boom in her wake.

* * *

_Shortest chapter yet, but I needed some way to set up the next few chapters. Next time: Luigi and Tails return, after seven chapters where we haven't seen a hint of yellow fur or a green cap._

_AoStH reference because I'm really excited for Sonic Boom. I hope they don't do too much of the having Tails rely on gadgets thing AGAIN… Though, since he can Homing Attack in the 3DS game, I do have my hopes up. I'm gonna watch either way, of course, but it's still something I'd like to see. _


	20. Chapter 20 (Luigi & Tails)

_They're finally here, preforming for you, if you know the words, you can join in too… Okay, I'm done._

**Chapter 20 (Luigi &amp; Tails)**

* * *

Luigi and Tails dropped out of the portal into the sand, Luigi somehow managing to get his head stuck in it.

Tails pulled him out, and looked around as the portal closed. They'd landed on the beach where they'd first met each other.

"Where'd everyone go?" Tails asked.

"Probably just ended up somewhere else," Luigi said. "And if anyone can handle themselves, it's them."

Tails laughed. "Yeah, that's true. Well, let's go find them, anyway."

Luigi didn't get a chance to answer, as Eggman's gigantic airship suddenly few overhead, heading in a different direction than last time.

"… Aaand it hasn't been five minutes and we're back to adventure," Tails said, running off, Luigi close behind and to his left.

"Yeah, that's pretty much how it is with me and Mario," Luigi said. "I remember this one time, when he left town for a few minutes to chase some crook, and when he got back? It was overrun by minions and some weird talking knife had taken over the castle."

"Heh, stuff like that happens with me and Sonic, too. Not much rest, really, when you've got evil villains trying to take over the world."

"Yeah, it's-" Suddenly Luigi skidded to a stop, having noticed a flash of yellow to his left. It couldn't have been Tails, as Tails was on the other side, what he'd seen looked metal, and Tails was the wrong shade anyway.

In fact, there was only one thing he remembered being that distinct shade of yellow. He ran over to the bushes he'd seen it in, and uncovered something he certainly hadn't expected to just find lying there on the beach. Tails stopped too, following to see what Luigi had found.

It was a small, bright-yellow plane with a blue nosecone. It was much smaller than any of the Tornados, and it wasn't a biplane. Its owner was unmistakable, though, by the huge red 'M' painted on the side of the plane.

"Sky Pop," Luigi said.

"… I think this is actually going to be fun," Tails said, smiling at Luigi.

* * *

Eggman and Bowser were lazily lounging in the cockpit of Eggman's battleship, discussing plans for how they'd split up the world once they ruled it and ignoring Elise, who was stuck in a cage.

"So, anyway, I was thinking that I'd get Empire City, just to spite the Mario Bros," Bowser said. "They grew up there, you see."

"And I want Station Square and Emerald Town. Tails' workshops are a goldmine!"

"And I'll also have Spagonia. I think it's important to the Mario Bros, or something."

"In that case, I'll take the BeanBean Kingdom. Heck if I know anything about it, but-" Suddenly, alarms started blaring, cutting off Eggman's comment. "We're under attack!" Eggman jumped out of his chair, rushing to the nearest computer to see what it was. "Oh, great. It's the fox boy and the green stache, what's-his-name. And he's wearing different clothes."

"Mr. Green Mario Brother Guy?" Bowser stomped over to the screen, trying to get a good look at it. What he saw was Tails, piloting a plane that looked vaguely familiar to Bowser, with Fire Luigi in the back seat. Tails was using the plane to fire missiles at robots, and Luigi was flinging green fire at anything that got too close. "Huh. Weird. Haven't seen those two in awhile."

"Well, unless we start firing at them, they're going to take out my entire fleet of flying-"

"ALL FLIGHT-TYPE BADNIKS DESTROYED!" The computer announced.

"- robots. Come on, that was even faster than usual! Don't we ever catch a break?"

"Probably not. But I've got something that'll slow them down." Bowser pressed the button for the PA on the battleship's console. "KOOPA TROOP, MOVE OUT! Attack the green plumber and the vulpine with too many limbs as soon as they land!"

"If they land," Eggman said, pressing another button to fire a laser at the little plane.

* * *

"That's the last of them," Luigi said, wiping his brow. "Let's get on there before they decide to do something crazy." Tails brought the plane in for a landing on top of the airship, but something happened that interrupted it – Specifically, a blue laser shot out of it and sliced off the wing.

Tails yelped in alarm, desperately trying to get the plane working again.

"Tails, it's not gonna fly!" Luigi said, hopping out of his seat onto the remaining wing. "We need to get out of here!"

"No, I can-"

Luigi grabbed Tails, and jumped off of the plane as hard as he could. The plane was thrown into the cliffs below by the force, exploding on impact, and Luigi soared through the air. As soon as Tails got his bearings, he got out of Luigi's arms, flying himself down to the battleship as Luigi landed, using the palm of his right hand to balance as he hit the deck hard – Literally.

Luigi brushed himself off, and looked down at the obliterated loop where the Sky Pop had crashed. "… Mario's NOT going to like that. But we need to get inside. How are we going to-"

Tails jumped into the air, curling into a ball and spindashing downward through the metal.

"… Okay, I'll just go with that," Luigi said, hopping down after the little fox. What they found inside was a new site to Tails, buck shockingly familiar to Luigi. The ship was filled with question blocks, floating coins (rather than the rings that seemed so common here), firebars, and even lava pits. Rushing down the hallway towards them was a group of Goombas.

"Bowser's gotten to this place, all right," Luigi said, taking out a row of Goombas with some fireballs. "Come on, Tails, let's go!"

Tails nodded, spin dashing forward to knock over another row of goombas. He ended up crashing right into an item block, causing a boomerang-shaped flower to come out. Tails touched it, and instantly gained Boomerang Bro armor, sky blue with orange-yellow trim. His sneakers were replaced by orange-yellow boots. He wondered how to use it, and a blue boomerang with a white stripe on one side appeared in his hands. Accepting this, he tossed it, taking out another row of Goombas.

"Way to go, Tails," Luigi said, attacking the last Goomba by jumping on it. "Come on! There's bound to be more!" The two ran into the next room, which was full of Ice Bros who retreated as soon as they realized that they were facing a Mario Brother in Fire form. Then came the Thwomps.

"... Great," Luigi said. "Of course there's thwomps! A whole row of them! How are we going to get past them?"

Tails grinned. "You're forgetting something!"

"And that is?"

"Fastest fox in the world," Tails said, jumping above Luigi and grabbing him by the hands. Tails shot forward at top speed, the sonic boom rattling even the thwomps above. They were at the other side before the first one even started to fall.

"… Oh… right… I'm kind of used to working with people slower than me," Luigi said, somewhat faintly. "… That was… fast."

Tails smiled. "Yeah. Sorry, I know it's a bit disorienting at first, but, you gotta do what you gotta do, you know?"

Luigi nodded in agreement. "Even if you're scared."

"Yeah. Even then. Unless it's lightning," Tails said, as he opened the door ahead of them. Right inside, Bowser and Eggman were waiting for them.

"Oh, come on!" Bowser yelled. "That's not fair! You were supposed to go through some mega-awesome gauntlet I designed and lose a few lives! Not slice through the ceiling three-quarters of the way through and show up fully powered-up!"

Luigi noticed Elise immediately. "Let the princess go, Bowser!"

"And why would I do that?"

"Because-"

Luigi was interrupted by the beginnings of a crashing sound as the ship shook. Everyone in the room lost their balance and feel to the ground, and as soon as they got up, it was easy enough to see the big warning screens on every computer monitor in the room.

* * *

_And I decided to have a little reference to Sky Chase from Sonic 2, instead of having them just run through Wave Ocean again. So, now Luigi and Tails are on the Egg Carrier – And it's about to blow up._

_Next time - Kingdom Valley, which will also be Silver's finale! And afterwards, Shadow's finale; and finally the heroes' finale (which will be two chapters)._


	21. Chapter 21 (Silver FINALE)

_Alright, here we are. Silver's finale: Kingdom Valley with Sonic. Next is Shadow's final showdown, then the heroes, and, finally, the true finale that wraps up the adventure._

**Chapter 21 (Silver FINALE)**

* * *

"Mario!" Daisy yelled, dropping out of her boosted state and coming to a stop near where Mario, Sonic, and Yoshi were walking.

"Princess? SILVER?" Mario asked. "How'd you do that? Why are you with him?"

"No time!" Daisy yelled. "Eggman's got Elise! We've gotta save her."

"Wait, you're a princess? Never mind! I was wrong about you, Sonic," Silver said. "Come on, we've got to get to Kingdom Valley!"

Sonic laughed. "Glad to have you on board! Well, let's go!"

"… You're not mad I tried to kill you?"

"Heck no. If I got mad at everyone who tried to hurt me, Tails would be my only friend. Well, maybe Mario and Luigi, too…" Sonic said.

"… What kind of life do you HAVE?"

"A cool one!" Sonic said, taking off. Mario and Daisy were close behind him, while Yoshi snagged Silver with his tongue and pulled him onto his back.

"No hard feeling," Yoshi said, as he ran off too. "Save world now!"

Moving at the speed they were, it only took a few minutes to reach Kingdom Valley, where the Egg Carrier could be seen far above. They dashed and jumped through the waterlogged valley, trying to catch up to the mechanical monstrosity in the grey, cloudy sky.

"Seems the perfect weather for a final battle," Sonic said, as he went into a sliding kick through some robots.

"You can say that again," Daisy said. Sonic did so.

Soon, they came to a ledge that had a huge gap over it. Daisy didn't seem bothered, and just jumped off at full speed, somehow producing a trampoline made of flowers halfway over to get her to the other side. Sonic had a rather… Different approach, and literally ran onto a wind current and rode it to the other side. Mario and Yoshi basically copied Sonic's idea, spreading their arms to catch the wind and glide across.

"Is that even possible?" Silver asked Yoshi as Mario and Yoshi landed, and the group took off again.

Yoshi shrugged. "Never really tell. Mario does impossible lots."

The five continued on like that for a few more minutes, keeping the Egg Carrier in sight, but unable to catch up. Soon, though, they reached a barred doorway, with no way around. Silver came up with the solution – He just bent it out of the way with his psychokinesis.

Unfortunately, just beyond it was a dead end, right into the water. As Mario was the only decent swimmer there, this posed a problem.

"… I think I can knock that structure down," Silver said, pointing to a sort of tower sticking out of the water. He grabbed a conveniently placed crate and threw it at it, collapsing it into the water and making an easily jumpable gap.

"Thanks, Silver," Sonic said, grinning. "Now it's just a little obstacle course over water!"

"… And you can't swim," Mario pointed out.

"Hey, what's the fun if there's no danger? Besides, I got, like, five lives! I'll be fine," Sonic said, as he ran along the obstacles, hopping from one to the next. Mario and Daisy followed enthusiastically, Silver and Yoshi a bit more carefully.

Soon, they were to the other side of the little lake, but the problems certainly weren't over. The Egg Carrier suddenly produced a huge crashing sound, and started shaking.

"Uh-oh," Sonic said. "Gotta speed up, here."

"Take this, then," Silver said, giving Sonic the Blue Chaos Emerald. "Just in case."

"Thanks," Sonic said, grabbing Mario's arm. "Ready for some sonic speed?"

Mario nodded, and Sonic took off at full speed to try and catch the Egg Carrier. They blasted onto and across the water, moving at super speeds to catch up to the Egg Carrier. Soon, they were dashing between two waterfalls, Sonic hopping on platforms on each side as they moved ever upwards.

Mario was studying the Egg Carrier carefully. "I don't think we're gonna make it, Sonic!"

"Come on, we've got to, otherwise-"

The Egg Carrier exploded in a huge fireball, covering the sky. Sonic skidded to a stop, looking on in horror. Only a few shapes could be seen emerging from the wreckage – A few large, spherical objects which meant Eggman had probably escaped (of course), and some turtles (which Mario would have recognized as Koopas) falling somewhat safely into the water.

"No…" Sonic said. "… We're… too late." He collapsed to the ground, holding his head in his hands. "… I… I didn't save the world… and I didn't save my friends."

"Hey!" Mario said, "Look, that's not how it's going to end, okay? We've still got the Chaos Emeralds, right? We could go back in time and save her!"

Sonic wasn't really listening to Mario. He was however, listening to an odd sound… Sort of a high-pitched warbling sound crossed with helicopter rotors? And it was coming towards them from above… Wait.

Sonic and Mario looked up, to see a little yellow fox using his tails to lower Princess Elise safely to the ground, while a green-clad plumber fell next to him, kicking his legs to glide down slowly.

"Tails?" Sonic asked. "You guys… I should've known!"

"Heh, it was nothing!" Tails said, as he lowered Elise to the ground. "I… Might have… Kinda accidentally spindashed through one of the coolant pipes… Sorry about that…"

"Destroyed the Egg Carrier _and_ saved the day?" Sonic asked, laughing in relief. "That's about as good as you can do!"

"You go, bro!" Mario said to Luigi. "How'd you even get up there?"

"... We kind of found the Sky Pop… And, bro, I'm so sorry! It got blown up!" Luigi said, tearing up.

"Hey, hey, bro, it's okay," Mario said. "We hardly ever used it anyway… I'll miss it, for sure, but at least everyone's all right. That's what matters. You and Tails saved the day!"

Luigi wiped his eyes. "… Thanks, bro."

"All of you deserve credit," Elise said, "Thank you, so much. This has been quite an adventure! I'm glad for it."

"So, is this it?" Sonic asked. "… We won, right?"

* * *

"No!" Silver yelled as he saw it explode. "The princess!"

Daisy was watching through binoculars, "Wait, Silver! I think I see something. Is that… Silver, the princess! I see her! She's okay!"

Silver sighed in relief. "Oh, good… So… I guess it's time for me to head back, then. I'm done in this time." He set off in the direction Mario and Sonic had gone, but Daisy stopped him. "What is it, Daisy?"

"… Well… Why?" she asked. "Didn't you come here to fix the future?"

"Yeah. And now I've got to go back, to…" Silver stopped. What WAS he going to do? He wouldn't even know anybody in the future!

"To what? From what you've told me… You don't have anyone in the future. Even if it's changed, you won't know the people there," Daisy said. "But… You've got friends now, Silver."

"… You're right," Silver agreed. "… Yeah. I think… I'll stay here…"

"Besides," Daisy smiled. "The future might not hold adventures. Here and now? Oh, yeah. You can bet there'll be more adventures."

"Then it's decided," Silver said, beginning to walk back to castle town. "I think… It's time to have some fun. I haven't even gotten a chance to since I got here."

"Great! Let's go," Daisy said, grabbing Silver's arm.

"Wait, no, not that-"

"AND WE'RE GONE!" Daisy yelled, dashing off.

* * *

"NOT SO FAST!" Yelled a familiar, growly voice as Bowser flew down in his Koopa Clown Car.

"Don't go celebrating your victory just yet, boys," Dr. Eggman said, as he piloted his Egg-O-Matic to them. "I've still got one last robot to try out!"

"Get safe, Elise," Sonic said, stretching his legs. "We'll handle this." Elise nodded, running over to a rock to watch from behind safely.

Mario stretched. "Just like old times, eh, bro?"

"Times two!" Sonic said before Luigi could answer. "Everyone ready?"

"Let's-a-go!" Mario said.

"Okey-dokey," Luigi said confidently.

"I'll do my best!"

"Alright, bring it on!" Sonic finished, as the four stared down Eggman and Bowser. Eggman grinned, pressing a button to summon his newest robot, for the final battle to really begin.


	22. Chapter 22 (Shadow FINALE)

_Well, what stories could be told, if Bowser and Eggman weren't always trying to muck everything up? As I see it, they're really more determined to beat their rivals now than to truly rule the world. If they were to succeed in their plan? They'd probably just fight each other._

_Wario's ability to use Chaos Control is finally explained._

_Another update on future fics: I'm still trying to figure out exactly where the Sonic fic I'm thinking about will go. Most likely, I'll actually just refine what I've got, and make it a oneshot._

**Chapter 22 (Shadow - FINALE)**

* * *

Shadow dropped out of the portal to find Rouge and Omega sitting in the shade in Soleanna Castle Town.

"You'd think the citizens would notice these random portals, wouldn't you?" Rouge said. "Anyway, Shadow, where'd you go? What did you find?"

"Ten years ago, Mephiles was released – He is the other half of their sun god, Solaris. I believe that to be why Kingdom Valley is ruined. He was sealed within-"

"The scepter of darkness," Rouge said. "I've been doing my homework while you were gone. So, what are we going to do about him, now? I mean, it's not like we can just make another scepter of darkness, right?"

"Maybe not, huh? Wa hah! But that doesn't mean someone else can't find something for you." Rouge and Shadow turned on the spot to the new voice to find Wario standing not thirty feet away, holding… A second scepter of darkness.

"What the- How did you get that?" Shadow asked. "And why do you come back now?"

"Turns out there's quite a few of these babies. They were originally made by Koopas, in case any… Experiments… Went awry. And I've been following everyone, anyway," Wario said, shrugging as he tossed the scepter over to Shadow. Shadow effortlessly caught it, but continued to glare at Wario. "Yeah, yeah, I get it, you're angry. Don't take it so personally. I had stuff to do. Honestly, I was originally only going to use this baby," he took out the red Chaos Emerald for a moment, "To help with stealing. But, eh, I remembered a bit of my history, and got curious. Spied on people. Recruited some help. Gathered up as much info I could about all this. Look, I don't want the world destroyed, and that's usually what's at stake when Mario's involved. Sonic too, right?"

"That doesn't excuse ditching us to be tossed into the future!" Rouge said.

"Never said it did, batty." Rouge fumed at the name. "I ran away because I knew I couldn't face what I thought was coming. Turned out it was only part of it. But, if I'd gotten stuck in the future with you, we WOULD be facing the whole right about now. Think on that, alright?"

Team Dark was silent for a bit. "… I hate to say it, but he's right," Shadow said. "… I still don't like you, though, Wario."

"Eh, not many people do, but, whatyagonnado?" Wario asked, shrugging once more. "Anywhoo… Before you go after Mephiles, I've got just one more thing, the answer to how I can perform Chaos Control."

"… In truth, I would like to know that," Shadow admitted.

"I'm one of the seven Star Children," Wario said. "That means that I have the ability to control, channel, and generate energy. I don't know where we come from, but that's why I can do it."

"Do you know who the others are?" Shadow asked, curious.

"I'm pretty sure I'm the only one in the world who knows all seven," Wario said smugly. "Though I think you might be able to guess at a few others – Three of 'em ain't exactly subtle about their abilities."

_Mario and Luigi, probably,_ Shadow thought.

"But, anyway, that's all I got for ya, now. Except one more thing: There's one Chaos Emerald left that no one's collected, in the desert. If I'm right, you'll find Mephiles going after it." Wario took out his Chaos Emerald. "And I'm never wrong. CHAOS CONTROL!"

Wario vanished in a flash of light, leaving Team Dark alone.

"THE WALKING BEACH BALL WAS QUITE RUDE," Omega said.

"Oh, you're one to talk!" Rouge said. "Come on, let's just get to this desert place, so we can get rid of him!"

"Hmph. I agree," Shadow said, skating off.

* * *

The ruins of Dusty Desert – Clearly the perfect place to search for a Chaos Emerald. It wasn't lost on Shadow how the Emeralds always turned up when and wherever they were needed, or that they were always in the most treacherous place. Team Dark reached the ruins without much trouble, beyond complaints about sand (mostly from Rouge).

They were more or less just what Shadow expected to find – Booby-trapped, dark, and filled with bats. This wasn't lost on the Mobian bat of the group, who seemed to have a strong dislike for her less-evolved cousins.

"GET OFF ME YOU FLYING RATS!" Rouge yelled, swatting at the black bats that swarmed them as they dashed through the dark hallways.

"You're aware that you're a bat too."

"It's not the same and you know it!" Rouge snapped, as they entered a room that was much better lit… And occupied by shadow monsters. Rouge took the opportunity to use these as an outlet for her anger, smashing them with powerful kicks and bombs.

"I WANTED TO DO THAT," Omega said.

"Take the next ones," Rouge said, calmer than before. The next room was a giant sand pit, which, of course, had shadow monsters in it. Omega wasted no time in shooting them, using Rouge and Shadow as ammunition.

"I thought we agreed to stop that!" Rouge yelled at Omega, flying after the robot as they continued on.

"IT IS MORE EFFICIENT. DOES NOT WASTE AMMO, PLUS SPINDASH FORM IS FAR MORE POWERFUL THAN BULLETS."

All in all, Dusty Desert's ruins were really no different than the numerous desert ruins Rouge had visited. Okay, they were far more bearable than that time she managed to get lost in Sandopolis on Angel Island while looking for Knuckles' new hiding place for the Master Emerald. At least this time there were no seemingly-endless slides that were a pain to deal with.

Shadow himself dealt with the next room full of yet more dark creatures. These ones were snake-like, but were easily dealt with by a few Chaos Spears. Once that room was clear, they moved on to find a huge, circular room, with Mephiles waiting for them.

"I was expecting you sooner. But it doesn't even matter," Mephiles said, holding up the yellow Chaos Emerald. "You're already too late, Shadow. Your fate is sealed. My revenge upon humanity will be completed. Pity you won't be around to see it. In another life, I may have extended an offer to you. That is not the case here."

"You don't truly desire revenge," Shadow said. "All you want is destruction!"

"You know me better than I might have expected," Mephiles said. "True, I do wish for destruction. But none moreso than I wish for yours!" Suddenly, the floor of the room grew dark as Mephiles approached, almost encased in shadow.

"Now!" Shadow yelled, pulling out the Chaos Emerald. Rouge and Omega got into position, Omega charging up his weapons fully and Rouge grabbing onto his head to keep him steady. "Chaos… CONTROL!" Time froze, and Omega's body spun around, blasting everything in the room. Once it was gone, Mephiles was nowhere to be seen.

"Did you really believe your technique would work, Shadow the Hedgehog?" Mephiles' voice rang out, and he and many of his shadow creatures rose out of the darkness. "Impressive, but pointless, nonetheless. Drown in darkness!" Mephiles dove into the shadowy floor, and three titanic beasts made of shadow creatures rose up.

"Whoa! That doesn't look too good. Can we handle it?" Rouge asked. "Oh, who am I kidding?"

"ANHILLIATE!" Omega yelled, setting his hands on fire and clawing at the first one. Rouge swooped over another, coming down from above with a drill kick. Shadow charged his energy and took off, gliding above the ground in a Chaos Boost as an orange aura of energy surrounded him. As it turned out, each member of Team Dark was more than capable of taking down a shadow beast on their own – In fact, it almost seemed like they were a…

_Distraction_, Shadow supplied himself, just as he leapt out of the way of a dark beam of energy. It missed him by a few feet, but it was more than close enough for him to feel its energy. Whatever that attack was, it was WRONG. It shouldn't have existed. There was more concentrated malice and evil in that one attack than Shadow had ever felt. It crashed into the wall, not leaving a single mark on it. Shadow didn't want to think of what might have happened if it actually managed to hit someone – He had the distinct feeling that rings and extra lives wouldn't matter to an attack like that.

Shadow turned on the spot, catching Mephiles in a spin dash before his doppelganger could hide in the shadows again. The attack caused the shadows on the floor to disappear, leaving Mephiles vulnerable. Shadow, Rouge, and Omega wasted no time in trying Chaos Inferno again, this time actually managing to deal heavy damage to Mephiles.

Then, the unexpected happened: Mephiles duplicated himself. With a silent glance at each other, Team Dark split up, and began attacking the copies.

"It doesn't matter how many of them you destroy, don't you know that by now?" Mephiles' voice rang out from each one. "There's always more where that came from!" More and more duplicates kept appearing, and the team continued attacking.

"What do you hope to gain?" Mephiles asked, just as Shadow noticed that one was different from the others. He continued attacking the clones, though, using homing attacks so he could focus his energy on what he really needed to do. "There's nothing you can do to-"

"CHAOS SPEAR!" Shadow yelled while still in midair, thrusting his glowing hand at the one Mephiles that looked a little less dull than the others, the one with shining crystals. The attack hit dead-on, flinging Mephiles to the floor. Shadow landed next to him, a cold glare on his face.

"How could you… I am… Invincible… I am forever…" Mephiles said, as he melted back into a purple shadow, the yellow Chaos Emerald clattering onto the ground.

"I am Shadow the Hedgehog," Shadow said. "I am the ultimate lifeform. That's all the answer you should need." He brought out the Scepter of Darkness, holding it up to Mephiles. Mephiles was sucked inside, and the Scepter began to glow. Just as it seemed as the deed was done, the glowing grew too bright, and the Scepter shattered.

"Did you truly think that I haven't gotten stronger!?" Mephiles yelled, as he scooped up the Chaos Emerald. "That the same trick would work twice?" Mephiles sent out a surge Chaos Energy, knocking back Rouge and Omega, though Shadow held strong.

"Don't you understand, Shadow?" Mephiles asked, as he floated over to the black hedgehog. "The Ultimate Life has no power over me now. Not even a child of the stars could hope to beat me." He held up his hand with the yellow Emerald, and the green Emerald flew from Shadow into his hand. He sent out another surge of Chaos Energy, knocking Shadow to the ground. "And you, Shadow the Hedgehog… I can't have you messing anything else up." Mephiles raised his arms, and a thousand clones of the doppelganger appeared, surrounding the nearly unconscious Team Dark. Shadow stood up, glaring at Mephiles.

"And yet, you still stand. You must realize there's no hope for you to stop me, now."

Shadow gripped his wrist, removing the ring that was held on his wrist. "I suppose, in a way, I am similar to Sonic." He reached for his other wrist, removing the ring there as well. "I'm too stubborn to give up on what I believe in and die! I AM SHADOW! Witness my true power!" Rouge and Omega got behind Shadow, as a huge burst of energy flashed up from the hedgehog. He skated through the clones of Mephiles, a huge aura of orange surrounding him, dissipating the dark clones as he skated through. Mephiles' army was being destroyed, without Shadow so much as expending effort to do so. Within a minute, every clone had been destroyed – But the original Mephiles was nowhere to be seen.


	23. Chapter 23 (Heroes FINALE)

_Werewolf99: Well, you didn't have to wait. I got your review about ten minutes before finishing this off! I just couldn't wait to write!_

_And here's the last chapter before the true finale begins. Heroes vs. Villains. This is the only finale for any of the stories to be fully a boss battle – As it should be, with the heroes against Bowser and Eggman._

**Chapter 23 (Heroes FINALE)**

* * *

"So, same old, same old, or switch it up?" Sonic asked Mario. "Me and Tails against turtle breath, you and Luigi against eggface?"

Mario nodded, throwing Sonic something before motioning for Luigi to follow him to Eggman. Sonic caught the projectile, and looked in his hands, surprised to see a pair of Fire Flowers. He grinned, handing one to Tails. Simultaneously, both Mobians used them. Sonic's fur became a stark white, his gloves turning red as a bright red scarf appeared around his neck. Tails' fur changed from its normal yellow to a reddish-orange color, and his gloves and shoes became yellow once again.

"Gwa ha ha!" Bowser laughed. "Ha! This'll be a piece of cake! With the Super Stupid Bros occupied with Ivo, there's no way you two can hope to beat me!" Bowser jumped high into the air, coming down on top of Sonic and Tails… Or, rather, where they'd been two seconds before. Before Bowser could process it, a ball of flame slammed into him, breaking apart to reveal the fox and the hedgehog.

Bowser laughed. "Oh, you're fighters! I like that!" Bowser grinned, a huge, toothy smile. "Not that it'll help you win."

Eggman's latest creation had arrived – A gigantic, robotic dragon. "So, you two aren't my usual adversaries. No matter. Let's see how much of that data I collected on you is true. This is the Egg Wyvern." His Egg-O-Matic flew into the mouth of the robot, hiding him from sight. The great metal behemoth flew up, and into a nosedive straight for Mario and Luigi. Luigi grabbed Mario's hand, and jumped at the last second. Mario was able to grab onto the horn of the robot, anchoring them to it. Mario slammed into the hull with his fist, leaving a sizable dent. Luigi kicked at the same spot, nearly breaking through the armor.

"So you do have the strength!" Eggman said. "Oh-ho-ho! But is it enough? What can you truly do?"

Mario smirked. "You really want to know? Fine." Mario grabbed the giant metal dragon's horn, and yanked with all his might. The robot immediately veered a sharp ninety degrees, barreling straight into Bowser and sweeping him onto its back. In a second, a fireball was slamming into Bowser, accompanied by an aura of electricity.

Surprisingly, this wasn't the work of the Mario Brothers, but a Thunder Shoot from Tails augmented by the Fire Flower. Tails landed on the Egg Wyvern, catching Sonic as he rebounded off of Bowser.

"Grah!" Bowser yelled. "You're annoying little pests, that's for sure!"

"Good job, you two!" Mario yelled at Sonic.

"You're not so bad, yourself," Sonic replied. "Hey, Tails, let's sweep things up with a bit of spin, you know!"

"Yeah!" Tails agreed. Sonic and Tails rushed forward, both twirling on the spot in front of Bowser's legs. The great Koopa fell to his stomach as the fox's tails and hedgehog's foot, both accompanied by flames, whacked him in both knees. Sonic and Tails were out of the way before he fell, and grabbed onto his tail.

"AW CRUD!" Bowser yelled, as they started working together to swing him around. "I. HATE. THIS. MOVE!" Sonic and Tails let go, tossing Bowser back to the ground.

"Say, we can't let him party down there by himself," Sonic said.

"Nah. Need a lift?"

"Don't mind if I do!" Sonic grabbed onto Tails' hands, and the little fox flew them back down to Bowser.

"Hmm… Why don't we put our own 'spin' on things?" Luigi asked Mario, taking out his hammer.

"Ah-ha! Always the best ideas, bro!" Mario said, holding his hands up for Luigi to hop on top of them. Hammer in hand, Luigi started spinning, faster and faster until the brothers were nothing but a blur.

"And what is that going to – Oh." Eggman began to taunt, but stopped once he noticed that the two plumbers had become a drill and had left a three-foot wide hole in one of the wings. "Hah! Didn't think that through, did you? You can't fly!" Come to think of it, the Wyvern wouldn't last much longer, either.

"Oh? Egghead?" Said a high-pitched voice belonging to a certain red-capped man, who had just appeared in front of the Egg Wyvern sporting a raccoon tail and ears.

"We've always got a ton of these," Luigi said, joining his brother with a fox tail and ears. "There's really nothing that beats the thrill of flying on your own."

"Except, of course, this," Mario said. Mario shot forward, using his momentum to punch the front of the Egg Wyvern with all his might. The snout nearly crumpled, and only the Egg-O-Matic within kept it from fully doing so. Before Eggman could mount another attack, Luigi dashed forward, whipping the already-damaged wing with his new tail.

Bowser was having his own problems, down below. He'd started doing the screaming jet-fire thing at Sonic and Tails, but, as it turned out, it was VERY hard to hit two targets who could move twice the speed of sound without much difficulty.

"Think we need to give him a twist, little bro?" Sonic asked.

"Out of the blue?"

"You got it, bud!" Sonic exclaimed, jumping up and starting to spin around Bowser, creating a tornado of flame. Tails joined in, flying around the circle to enhance its power. Bowser was thrown upward by the force of the wind, and seared by the flames, but he wasn't out. Not in the least. Bowser summoned a hammer with a head as big as Sonic himself out of nowhere, and flung it at the duo with all his might. And, as assurance, threw seven more in different directions in quick succession. Sonic and Tails were barely able to dodge them all, as they were moving as fast as they were. In fact, Tails failed to dodge the last one, but managed to catch its handle. Using all his strength, he brought it to a stop, but the impact was still enough to strip him of his fire form.

Sonic went into a fiery spindash, slamming into Bowser's gut and knocking him back. Without even a second of delay, he followed it up with a homing attack and bounce attack to the head of the great Koopa king.

Eggman was trying his hardest to defeat Mario and Luigi. He'd finally gone on the offensive, and was shooting missiles at the two. Unfortunately, though they only moved a third the speed of Sonic and Tails, the two could react far, far faster than the speedy duo could. They responded by dodging, deflecting, heck, even RIDING the missiles. On multiple occasions, straight into the already-damaged wing.

"TAKE THIS!" Eggman yelled, firing a laser at Mario. Somehow, it connected, causing the red plumber to lose his raccoon form and plummet to the ground. Moments later, Luigi zipped off after him. Eggman sighed in relief. Finally, a little breathing room. This robot had been designed to take on Sonic – Against the Mario Brothers, it seemed unlikely that he stood a chance. But with them out of the way for a few moments, he might be able to turn the tide. He activated the charged laser, and kept his finger on the button – He'd need exactly the right timing to pull this off.

Twenty seconds of charging later, and the Mario Brothers return – Luigi still in Fox form, but Mario with a new look he'd never seen before. Mario's hat and shirt had turned a brilliant white, with his overalls becoming a vibrant red. He held onto Luigi with his left hand, his right held out in front of him. Eggman grinned – It didn't matter what this form was. His laser would take good care of it. He released the laser, just as a ball of fire the size of a car was released from Mario's palm with a flick of the plumber's wrist. The laser which could've levelled a building didn't stand a chance, and the attacks neutralized each other.

"What the-"

"Fire Mario!" Mario yelled. "That's what, Egghead!"

"You take someone with the Firebrand, and power them up into Fire form," Luigi said. "And you get… Well, you'll see."

Mario pulled his hand back, and began gathering a ball of fire in his hand. It grew and grew, glowing as brightly as the sun itself. Eggman panicked, slamming his hand onto the charge laser button once again.

"Ha!" Bowser yelled, as he countered one of Sonic's homing attacks with a punch. Sonic was knocked back, losing his fire form in the process. "Man, you might actually be as powerful as the Mario Brothers! But you're not going to win. You know why?"

Sonic grinned. "Because my little bro's got everything covered?" He guessed.

"Huh?" Bowser asked, looking up to see the little yellow fox dropping one of his own hammers. Bowser didn't have time to react as the hammer slammed onto his head, knocking him out.

"Way to go, bro!" Sonic said, giving Tails a high-five as he came down. "That was sweet!"

"Heh… Thanks, Sonic. But I couldn't have done it on my own."

"Hey, what's the fun in adventuring on your own, anyway?" Sonic asked. "Come on, let's watch Mario finish off Egghead's latest machine."

Eggman didn't make it in time. He tried to release the laser, but Mario released his attack first. The ball of compressed flames in his hands exploded into two gigantic, shining dragons of flame – Each one twice the size of the Egg Wyvern itself. The flaming dragons flashed over the metal one, the sheer heat absolutely destroying the metal frame and bringing the machine to pieces. The only thing that remained was a singed Egg-O-Matic and a mad scientist with a bit of sunburn. Eggman turned and flew, screaming at Mario. "I'll get you next time! And Sonic, too!"

Luigi flew Mario back down to Sonic and Tails, exchanging high-fives all around.

"That was a good move there, Tails," Luigi said to the little fox. "Dropping one of Bowser's hammers on him? Why didn't we ever do that? And that thunder shoot thing? Gotta try that sometime."

"That drill thing was pretty cool, too," Tails said. "I didn't even know you could do that with a hammer."

"Impressive speed, as always," Mario complimented Sonic. "You hardly let him get a move in!"

"I know, right? And you! With the Fire Flower! Just…" Sonic trailed off. "… I mean, WOW! That was EPIC! Man, we should do this again sometime!"

"Oh, yeah!" Mario agreed. "That was great!"

"That was… Amazing!" Elise said, coming out from her place behind the safety of a rock. "You four… I've never seen anything like it! I… I can't thank you four enough for everything you've done for me. Saved me, helped my kingdom… Gave me something to do other than look over new laws and appear at ceremonies… Thank you, so much. It's too bad it's over now…" She seemed a bit down at that.

"Hey," Sonic said, walking over and trying to reach up to her shoulder. "How about… Let's make it last a bit longer. We'll walk back, instead of running."

Elise snorted, in a very un-princess-like way. "You? Walk?"

"Hey, that's the thing about goin' fast. Sometimes, you gotta know when to take it slow." Sonic smiled. "And, honestly, I've been running basically non-stop for three days. A bit of rest sounds really nice right about now."

"Yeah," Mario said, coming to walk next to Sonic. "Man, this was a LONG adventure. Usually mine are over in about five or six hours."

"Wow, really? Always?"

"Well, not at first. I got better at the whole hero thing, though, and they stopped lasting so long."

Sonic and Mario continued talking to each other, laughing along like old friends.

"Nothing like an adventure to bring people together," Luigi commented to Tails.

"Yeah… That's how me and Sonic always make friends, actually…"

"Well, you've got two or three new ones," Luigi said, smiling at the little fox. "Are you tired?"

"A bit."

"Too tired to fly back?" Luigi said, pointing out that he was still Fox Luigi.

Tails smiled. "Not a chance." He took to the air, Luigi following him. The two flew after their older brothers at a leisurely pace, finally having time to actually talk to each other after a huge adventure.

* * *

_And… Done! The heroes' story is over. Next time, the beginning of the end!_

_Bit of trivia: I have been writing fan fiction for three years, one month, and one day. This is the VERY FIRST time Fire Mario has made an appearance of any of my fanfics – The sole reason being that he's __**incredibly**__ overpowered in my headcanon because of Mario's already existing fire abilities._


	24. Chapter 24 (End of the World)

_Werwolf99: I disagree. Fan characters are one thing you should always consider what other people will think of them._

_And now, the beginning of the end… The grand finale._

**Chapter 24 (End of the World)**

* * *

Sonic, Tails, Mario, Luigi, and Elise went along back to the castle, talking and enjoying the scenery, not a care in the world. The five didn't notice the shadow rising out of the ground behind them, they were so caught up in their victory.

If Mephiles had a mouth, he would have smiled. It had all come down to this… One shot, and it'd be done. He silently glided over the ground, taking aim. It had to be perfect… If they knew he was here, there'd be no time to prepare for another.

A dark beam of light shot out of his hand, hitting Sonic the Hedgehog dead in the back.

Sonic stopped in his tracks, suddenly consumed by pain far worse than anything he'd ever felt. If he'd been able to, he would've screamed as his lives were ripped away, but his energy was draining so fast he never got the chance. It was all over in half a second, and Sonic collapsed to the ground, knowing no more.

"Sonic!" Elise yelled, dropping to the ground next to the hedgehog, and beginning to shake him. "SONIC!"

Tails, Mario and Luigi had noticed this. Tails immediately flew to his brother's side, and joined Elise in trying to wake him. It was only a few seconds before Tails realized he wasn't breathing. "Okay, don't panic… don't panic…" Tails said to himself. "He's still got four left, right…?"

From his position behind the group, Mephiles began to laugh maniacally. "Game Over for Sonic the Hedgehog… He's not coming back, fox. Never! And that means I've won!"

"… No… Sonic…" Tails said, his eyes watering. "… no… big bro… no…" He buried himself in Sonic's side, sobbing. Elise patted him on the shoulder, but it seemed like she was trying her very hardest not to do the same thing.

Mario and Luigi glared at Mephiles. "You… I can't believe you!" Mario yelled. "You're going down!" He ran at Mephiles, slamming through Shadow's doppelganger with his fist. Mephiles burst into darkness, but reformed, none the worse for wear, laughing. "Oh, you could fight me, Hero! But it's already too late! Look at the princess!"

Mario did, turning to see Luigi, Tails, and Elise all around Sonic. Luigi was trying to comfort the other two, but failing, as he was clearly just as upset as Elise. Elise was still trying not to cry, but was losing the battle. She shed a tear, and everything broke loose.

A huge shockwave broke out from the princess, knocking Tails, Luigi, and Sonic's body back from her. A huge wave of flame, larger than any Mario had ever produced without a Fire Flower, shot upwards from her, forming into a glowing sphere of lava some thirty feet up.

Mephiles began laughing once more. "Iblis! Finally, we reunite!" He took out the Purple, Yellow, and Green Chaos Emeralds, and they began to glow. Suddenly, Mario's, Luigi's, and Sonic's Chaos Emeralds shot out to join him, and six Emeralds were now circling Mephiles.

"WAH!" Yelled a familiar voice, as Wario was dragged out from behind a tree, clutching the Red Chaos Emerald. "Oh, no, you don't!" Wario yelled, as he dug his feet into the ground. "MINE!"

"The cunning star. Oh, yes, we finally meet. If you're truly so cunning, you must know that this is FUTILE!" Mephiles yelled, as all seven Chaos Emeralds flashed and the red one was yanked out of Wario's hands to join the circle. "Now, Chaos Emeralds… It's time for the final curtain call!" The Chaos Emeralds glowed, as Iblis was pulled down, straight into Mephiles. The flames surrounded Mephiles, and a bright flash of light lit up the world.

* * *

Shadow clipped his inhibitor rings back on, and grabbed Rouge and Omega by the hands.

"We've got to find Mephiles, before he-"

Shadow covered his eyes, as a bright flash of light enveloped the world, feeling as though it was going through his very being.

"No!" Shadow yelled, as the light overtook them. It was too late…

* * *

Amy, Peach, Yvan, and Wolley were enjoying a walk through Soleanna Castle town, when clouds suddenly covered the sky. Amy got out her hammer and Peach her umbrella, both ready to face whatever was happening.

As the light flashed over the entire world, though, it became abundantly clear to the two girls that they were NOT ready for whatever this was.

Knuckles smirked, as he punched out another of Eggman's robots. "I can't wait to see the look on Sonic's face when he hears I took out one of Eggman's bases without his help!" He glanced out the window, at the wonderful underwater view the base held. "Still, though, this place is beautiful. Shame I've got to, as Sonic would say, 'trash the place'."

A blinding wall of light suddenly filtered in through the water, permeating everything in sight.

"Huh? What's going-"

* * *

Daisy had introduced Silver to Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, and the four were getting along nicely. DK had thought it was a good idea to introduce Silver to the idea of a banana split, and so the four were sitting around an Ice Cream Parlor. Yoshi had been there already, and had made up with Silver already.

"Man, that was one heck of an adventure!" Daisy said. "We gotta do that more often!"

"BASH BADDIES AND EAT BANANAS!" DK yelled, pounding his chest.

"Yeah, that was fun!" Silver said, as he looked outside. "… Uh, guys? There's a lot of clouds out there, suddenly, and-"

Silver didn't get the chance to finish as the huge flash of light overtook them.

* * *

Bowser groaned, picking himself up. Nearby, Eggman was sitting in his Egg-O-Matic, arms crossed. Bowser sighed. "Beaten again."

"As usual," Eggman said, irritated. "How, even? Even when we work together, we still… Oh no!" Eggman yelled, interrupting himself as the light began to descend. "Solaris!"

"OH CRUD!" Bowser yelled, as the light overtook them too.

* * *

The Chaos Emeralds circling around Mephiles zipped off in all directions, into the distance to who knows where.

The light faded, and Luigi found himself standing on a floating platform in the middle of a void. Next to him was standing a still-crying Tails, with Mario on his other side. In front of them was Elise, and the limp form of Sonic the Hedgehog.

Near Tails, all three members of Team Dark stood. Amy, Knuckles, and Peach stood together a little ways in the other direction. Silver, Donkey Kong, and Yoshi stood in a group nearby, as well. Right next to Mario stood Wario.

"What's going on here?" Luigi asked. "How'd everyone get here?"

"It's all because of Solaris," Rouge said.

"She's right," said a growling voice from behind the Mario Bros. Everyone turned around to see Bowser and Dr. Eggman standing there. "The sun god is the one who did all of this."

"It seems we were all caught in the spatial distortion," Eggman said. "Iblis's seal was broken. Mephiles has rejoined with his other half."

Amy wasn't looking at Eggman, though. "… Sonic?" she asked, running over to where the blue hedgehog lay on the floor.

Knuckles came with her, staring agape at his friend. "… Tails… Is he…"

Tails sobbed. "… yes…"

"… Sonic's dead?" Knuckles asked. "He can't be… He's actually…" Knuckles was speechless. Sonic, dead? It was… It was just so incomprehensible. How could that even happen?

"NO!" Amy yelled. "NO! SONIC! YOU CAN'T BE GONE!"

Mario and Luigi hung their heads. They'd only known Sonic for a short time, true. But he'd definitely made a lasting impression.

"Mephiles had two goals… One was to stall for time, so he could become so powerful it would be impossible to imprison him again," Wario said.

"And the other… You see the results before you now," Eggman said. "He wanted to make the princess cry… So he got someone who'd gotten close to her, and… Sonic." Eggman whispered his next statement to himself. "… You were a good rival, Sonic. Never forget that."

"So that's why Mephiles wanted me to…" Silver trailed off.

"… Blue hedgehog Silver friend?" DK asked. "… DK Sorry."

"… This can't be over!" Mario yelled. "I refuse to accept it! Peach, we need you!"

"Mario, I don't think I can heal this," Peach said, as she came over.

"But you've gotta try, Princess," Mario said. Peach sighed, and crouched down over Sonic. Her hands glowed pink as she waved them over the blue hedgehog, but nothing happened.

"He's gone… I can't do this…" Peach said sadly. "Maybe… With a Power Star… If Jaydes let him come back…"

"I'm afraid that's impossible," Eggman said sadly.

"If there's no Power Stars here, there aren't any anywhere," Bowser added. "Time itself is being erased…"

"… Which means we're in a rift, caused by the instability of time," Shadow said, finishing Bowser's thought.

"And it won't remain for much longer," Eggman said.

"Then we've got to get rid of this thing now," Mario said, clenching his fist. "And deal with the rest later!"

"It won't work. Solaris transcends time."

"Then we'll destroy it all at once!" Silver yelled. "It's my fault! It's my responsibility."

"But how?" Eggman asked.

"The Chaos Emeralds," Wario said. "They were here when the rift was created. They still exist, so if we can find them…"

"We can save Sonic!" Peach yelled suddenly. "His spirit has returned! And if we save Sonic…"

"Then, surely, Sonic can help save the world," Shadow said. "But there's no time to delay. We'll need to split up. The Chaos Emeralds are scattered throughout this distorted reality."

Mario nodded, and everyone scattered to help find the Chaos Emeralds – Everyone except Eggman and Elise, who stayed by Sonic's side.

"Will this really work?" Elise asked Eggman.

Eggman hesitated. "… I don't know. But there's no other options."

* * *

Luigi and Tails emerged in Crisis City, and immediately began running down the ruined street. The city looked just as it had the last time they were here, with one distinct difference: Everything was tinted purple, and holes in space were opening up everywhere, sucking in the minions of Iblis all around.

"You holding in there, Tails?" Luigi asked.

Tails swallowed, but nodded. "Yeah… gotta do this, for Sonic…"

"I'd do anything for my brother, too," Luigi said, as he and Tails jumped over a gap in the road. "I hope we make it."

"We will!" Tails said. "… We have to." As they scaled a ruined building, they found what they needed: The Yellow Chaos Emerald. Luigi grabbed it, and he and Tails turn back and ran the way they came.

* * *

"DO NOT GET IN MY WAY," Omega said to Bowser, as the two came into the volcano of Flame Core.

"Wouldn't dream of it!" Bowser yelled, jumping into the lava and wading through. "Keep up, if you can!"

"IS THAT NOT PAINFUL?" Omega asked, as he used his rocket thrusters to glide after Bowser.

"Yeah, duh!" Bowser yelled, continuing to wade through it. "But if there's no world, there's nowhere to rule, and no Mario to fight!"

"FIGHTING IS GOOD."

"I agree!" Bowser yelled, as he punched his way through the wall of the volcano to find the green Chaos Emerald. "Got it! Let's go, before everything is over!"

* * *

Mario and Knuckles emerged in the jungle, and Mario immediately jumped his way onto the ruins and ran down them. It was all Knuckles could do to try and keep up with the plumber.

"I can't believe this happened," Knuckles said, as Mario pulled him over a gap. He could've glided, but Mario's long jump was much faster. "How could someone just…"

"End Sonic's game like that?" Mario asked, as he allowed Knuckles to smash through a boulder in their path. "I don't know. It's… It shouldn't be possible to do that. It's just wrong!" They reached the edge of the ruins, where a cyan glow could be seen below. Knuckles dropped down and grabbed the Emerald, climbing back up to Mario.

"For Sonic," Knuckles said. "We've got to succeed."

"For Sonic, AND the world," Mario replied, determination in his eyes. "We will NOT fail!"

* * *

Yoshi carried Silver through Dusty Desert, dashing at high speeds.

"Why did you ever forgive me?" Silver asked. "It's all my fault, anyway!"

"Not Silver fault!" Yoshi yelled, as he hopped over a fire monster. Silver levitated a boulder out of the dragon's way, allowing him to continue uninterrupted. "Mephiles trick! You change mind anyway!"

"… Thanks, Yoshi," Silver said, as he snagged the white Chaos Emerald with his telekinesis as they passed.

"Always are welcome!" Yoshi said, back, skidding to a stop and dashing back the direction they came.

* * *

Rouge and Wario ran down the beach, looking for a Chaos Emerald.

"Look," Wario said to Rouge. "I'm sorry about ditching you back there! And I'm sorry about this whole situation, okay? I didn't mean for this to happen."

"Not the time!" Rouge yelled, as she flew across a submerged part of the beach. Wario just ran through, easily wading through the water while running. "And I know you were trying to save the world. Besides…"

"Besides what?" Wario asked, as he punched through a boulder to reveal a cave with the purple Chaos Emerald within.

"It's hard to fault another treasure hunter if they don't take your treasure," Rouge said, as she grabbed the Chaos Emerald.

Despite the situation, Wario smiled. "Too true. I know some good spots, if you want."

"When the world isn't about to end, sure."

* * *

Amy and Peach dashed through the snow of White acropolis, using Amy's ability to double jump and Peach's ability to glide with her umbrella to avoid all the monsters that tried to attack them.

"Amy, how are you doing?"

"TERRIBLE!" Amy yelled, as she smashed down one of Eggman's guard towers. "Sonic's… Gone!"

"I'll get him back, Amy," Peach said. "I promise."

"Do you mean it?" Amy asked, as she slammed through one of Eggman's gates, not even bothering to solve the 'puzzle' meant for Sonic.

"Yes," Peach said, deadly serious as she grabbed the blue emerald that was behind the gate. "I'm going to get him back. We're going to get the world back."

Shadow and Donkey Kong arrived in Kingdom Valley, Donkey Kong wasting no time in climbing across a wall. Shadow found a trail of rings, and light-dashed after him.

* * *

"Do you even know what we're doing?" Shadow asked.

"Find pretty gem!" DK yelled.

"A Chaos Emerald. A gem of ultimate power."

"Yes! Save world. Place with all friends."

"… Yes, I suppose it is," Shadow said, as he ran below the climbing ape. DK jumped onto a ledge, and jumped right back down with the red Chaos Emerald.

"Got it! Go save friends now," DK said, running back the way they came. Shadow followed, hoping they weren't too late.

* * *

Peach rushed over to Sonic, blue Emerald in hand. Everyone had arrived at the same time, each with an Emerald. "Okay, give them all to me!" Peach said. "I think… I hope I can do this." With all seven Chaos Emeralds in hand, Peach focused her energy. The Chaos Emeralds lit up, circling the princess. She began to glow a brilliant pink color, wings of light appearing behind her as her dress shimmered with a golden-pink color. She began to float above the ground, the Chaos Emeralds dropping to the floor, lifeless and dull.

Peach floated forward, placing her hands on Sonic. The glow faded from her, as Sonic's body flashed a brilliant white for a moment. A second later, Peach was back to normal, and Sonic had changed from blue to a brilliant gold, his spines sticking up instead of hanging down like they usually did. Sonic opened his eyes, revealing that they had gone from their usual emerald green to a ruby red color.

"All right!" Super Sonic yelled. "I am back in business!"

"Sonic!" A multitude of voices yelled, no one quite sure at all who did and didn't. Sonic grinned, flying over to Tails, Knuckles, Mario, and Luigi.

"So, yeah, I got the memo of the whole issue here," Sonic said, floating in front of his friends. "That lady in purple in that dark place told me before sendin' me back here." He held onto Tails' and Knuckles' hands. "Ready for this?"

"Always, Sonic," Knuckles said, smiling at his friend.

Tails nodded, giving Sonic a thumbs-up with his other hand. "Let's go!"

Tails and Knuckles rose into the air, Tails' fur shining and glowing a brilliant gold, Knuckles gaining his own, fuchsia glow.

Sonic turned to what little could be seen of the light in the sky. "Time to end this for good! SUPER SONIC STYLE!"

The Super Team Sonic shot into the air, leaving the other heroes on the ground to watch and cheer them on.

* * *

_Sonic: Was just dead. Cracks jokes._

_So, I had Super Tails and Super Knuckles instead of Super Shadow and Super Silver. Instead of looking like their modern Super forms do in Sonic heroes (and, yes, those golden shields are their actual Super forms, as far as I can tell), I had them glow the same colors as their classic Super forms – Tails golden, Knuckles pinkish._

_And, yeah, Peach saved Sonic, instead of Elise. But she had to go Super (Or, rather, Empress Peach - I based her Super form on her Mega Strike, so it stands to reason it should be named after it) to use her existing healing powers to heal Sonic. And it worked so well, he became Super._


	25. Chapter 25 (FINALE)

_Only the epilogue left now. It's… Been fun. I'm so glad I got to do this again._

**Chapter 25 (FINALE)**

* * *

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles flew into the sky above, coming face to face with Solaris's true form for the first time. It appeared to be nothing more than a white torso with arms, and hard plates covering each arm and the front of the sun god itself. Spikes circled around its back.

"Man, talk about ugly!" Sonic said, as he zipped forward straight into the being's chestplate, damaging it. Solaris roared, a strange sound that Sonic wouldn't be able to recall later, and shot out meteors at them.

Knuckles flew in front of Sonic and Tails, punching the meteors straight back at Solaris and hitting it on its arms as it tried to block. Solaris roared again, and Tails used the distraction to swoop in and slice at its chestplate with his tails. He managed to knock it upward, revealing a red core under it. Solaris whacked Tails back with its arm, just as Sonic flew forward into the red core.

"Ow!" Tails said, as he righted himself next to Knuckles. "Wait… That hurt! Oh, no this is bad…"

"Well, then it's a good thing I found its weak point," Sonic said, as he flew back. "He really didn't like it when I did that, huh? It's always the glowing red stuff, ya know?"

Knuckles nodded, and caught a huge meteor that Solaris had flung at them. "Okay, I've got a plan. Sonic, Tails, I'm going to throw this rock at it. Hopefully, that'll make it let its guard down, and then…"

"Super Sonic Power!" Sonic yelled. "Alright, ready!"

"Me too!" Tails exclaimed. "Go for it, Knuckles!"

Knuckles flung his rock at Solaris, hitting it right in its chestplate and moving it just enough that the red core became visible. All three went into a mid-air spin dash, slamming into the core repeatedly before it could hide again. Solaris screamed, more of anger than pain, and shot a huge laser at Team Sonic.

"Gah!" Knuckles yelled. "Oh, ow, that does hurt!"

"Man, this thing is powerful," Sonic said, panting a bit. "But we can't back down! Let's show that creep-"

"We agreed you'd stop saying that," Knuckles said, as he grabbed onto Sonic and used him as a projectile to hit Solaris again.

"Hey!" Sonic yelled, as he slammed into Solaris's arm. Tails was able to get a tail-swipe in at the core before Solaris got on guard again, and backed up. Solaris shot another group of meteors and a giant laser at the same time, roaring as it did so, hitting Team Sonic and knocking them far back.

"… Oof," Tails said, as he righted himself again.

"… Yeah, ow."

"… We've gotta be really careful," Knuckles said. "If it's that powerful… We might not be able to keep up our super forms… Let's get some more rings before we attack again."

* * *

"Can they handle it?" Mario asked Shadow, worriedly, as he watched the two yellow streaks and the one pinkish streak battle the abomination in the void's sky.

"… I'm not sure," Shadow admitted. "But there really isn't much other choice."

"I could help," Mario said, taking out a red, star-shaped object.

"Without the Chaos Emeralds?" Eggman laughed. "Impossible!"

"And who am I, again?" Mario asked, as he absorbed the Red Star's power to transform into Flying Mario. His hat an overalls became black, while his shoes and the buttons on his overalls turned red. He rose into the air, his hands glowing as he took off for the sky.

"He's going to get himself killed," Eggman said.

Bowser laughed. "Heck, no! Look, if anyone can do this? It's Mario. I've fought him enough to know I believe in him."

* * *

Solaris had upped its game – Though Team Sonic was now in little danger of running out of rings and cancelling the transformation, Solaris was giving hardly any breathing room in between shots. Sometimes, Sonic was able to land a hit on its armor, but there didn't seem to be any way to actually damage the beast when it was like this.

"If only we had a distraction…" Knuckles said. "Then we'd have an opening."

"But how's that going to happen all the way up here?" Tails asked.

Something black and flying fast slammed into Solaris's underside, doing no damage but providing enough of an opening for team Sonic to hit with their team attack again, doing more damage to it. The black flyer proved to be incredibly agile in the air, and it was quite a bit before it slowed down enough for Sonic to see what it was.

"Woo-hoo!" Mario yelled, as he zipped around Solaris. "Hey, guys! Thought you were leaving me behind, huh?" Mario punched Solaris in a part that wasn't armored, causing it to focus all its attention on Mario and ignore Team Sonic… Untill they hit it with another joint attack, Sonic with a kick slamming into its core, followed by a punch from Knuckles and a tail slice from Tails.

"Hey, Mario! Glad to have you on board!" Sonic said. Mario gave a thumbs-up, and flew next to Sonic. He turned to Solaris… Only to get a face-full of laser, instantly overpowering his Flying form. Mario dropped like a rock, crashing down below on the platform with everyone else. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles got hit by another barrage as they watched to make sure Mario was okay, getting knocked back again.

"Gah…" Sonic groaned, holding his head. "Man, we've gotta stop getting distracted!"

"Then let's do this," Knuckles said, dashing forward to deal another blow to Solaris. Sonic grinned, and locked hands with Tails to preform the powerful Rolling Combo straight into Solaris's core as soon as it was uncovered. A bright light enveloped Solaris as the three flew back from it.

"Yes!" Sonic yelled, punching the air. "We did it!"

The light faded, revealing something very different. Solaris was just fine, and had gone from a dark-ish, grey being into one of pure gold, the spikes circling its back transforming into wings, and its armor gone.

"… No," Knuckles said. "… It's just beginning."

* * *

Mario looked up at this scene. "We've gotta do something!"

"I know, Mario, but it didn't work… What can we do?"

"Hey! Don't give up so easy, Mario!" Bowser yelled. "You never give up this easy when fighting me!"

"It's true," Peach agreed. "I'm sure you can do something to help, only… I don't know what."

"Mario strong, Mario the best!" DK agreed, pounding his chest.

"(Mario, Mario, he's our man, if he can't do it, no one can!)" Yoshi cheered.

Mario got an idea. He began picking up the drained Chaos Emeralds, trying to get some semblance of power into them. Nothing was happening, but Mario refused to give up.

"Hey, Mario?" Wario said. "Look, I know we don't get along. But, hey, you need to know this: I, Wario, the baddest of the bad, KNOW you can do something. You always do. Isn't that right, Luigi?" Wario asked, an odd smile on his face despite the situation.

Luigi nodded. "You go, bro."

Mario nodded as well, fierce determination in his eyes. "Yeah… I do! Somehow, I'll do this!"

An aura of light surrounded Mario, Luigi, Wario, DK, Peach, Yoshi, and Bowser.

"What's this?" Eggman asked, as the glow moved from the seven people to the Chaos Emeralds themselves, bringing the gems back to life.

Wario grinned wider. "The Chaos Emeralds turn thoughts into power. All they needed was a little belief from some people who could make energy. The Star Children. All seven of us."

The Chaos Emeralds circled around Mario and Luigi, and the two brothers welcomed their power. Their caps and overalls became a shining white, their shirts and shoes becoming a golden hue. White capes appeared on their backs, and Mario's eyes became red while Luigi's turned green.

"Let's-a-go," Mario said, as he flew upwards into the sky.

* * *

Two streaks of white light slammed into Solaris's core simultaneously, shocking Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails. Out of the resulting explosion flew Mario and Luigi, shimmering in a rainbow of bright colors.

"All right!" Sonic said, "Glad you made it, for real!"

"Luigi!" Tails exclaimed. "You too?"

Luigi nodded. "Hey, Tails? I've got an idea."

"And I've got one too!" Sonic said, starting to spin into a tornado around Solaris. "Jump in and flame on, Mario!"

Mario understood immediately. He flew into Sonic's tornado, shooting fireballs as he twirled around it. The tornado caught fire, Solaris caught in the middle. Knuckles took the opportunity to come down from above, slamming into Solaris's core like a fiery drill. Mario swooped above, curling into a ball to preform his homing Ground Pound straight into Solaris's core himself. Sonic attacked with a light-speed attack, slamming straight through.

Solaris roared again, shooting out lasers to Mario, Sonic, and Knuckles. Mario's arrival struck a new confidence in Sonic and Knuckles, though, and they easily destroyed the rocks sent at them.

A ball covered in an aura of blue-green electricity slammed into Solaris's core, revealing itself to be Luigi shot at Solaris from Tails' thunder shoot. For good measure, Luigi summoned up a huge bolt of lightning from each hand, and zapped Solaris straight in the core with it. Tails zoomed in, curling into a ball and slamming Solaris in a solid spin attack.

"This is crazy!" Luigi yelled, as he dodged lasers. "It's so… Wow! I've never felt this sort of power! I… I really think we can win this."

"Me and you both, bro!" Mario said, sending a nasty dragon of flame into Solaris's next wave of meteors.

"I always love doing this!" Sonic said, as he boosted into Solaris again. "Not so tough without that armor of yours, and when there's five of us, huh?"

"Remember what's at stake, Sonic!" Knuckles yelled, as he punched more of Solaris's projectiles out of the way.

"If it takes too long, the world's still toast!" Tails reminded them. "We've gotta end it now?"

"All together, then?" Sonic asked, to agreement from all parties. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles dashed forward, curling into balls as they slammed into the core once more, Mario and Luigi's powerful kicks aiding them for the final hit.

Solaris began to glow once more.

"We did it!" Tails cheered.

"And that's a wrap!" Sonic said. "Thank you, thank… Huh?"

Something was wrong – The world was shaking, and white cracks were starting to appear in the sky itself. Solaris was glowing, but it wasn't out – In fact, it was fleeing. As the cracks became bigger, Mario knew what he had to do. He zipped forward after Solaris, almost seeming to be a streak of flames himself. The other four followed his lead, chasing down Solaris as time collapsed around them.

"Hey, Solaris!" Mario yelled. "Do you know who I am? I'm Mario! If you knew half of what I've done… I won't let this happen!"

**BRAVE STAR, BUT PUNY NONETHELESS. YOU ARE NOTHING TO ME AS I AM NOW.**

"They why are you running, huh? I've beaten things like you before. I'll do it again. And I bet you know it, too! And this time," Mario smiled at his friends. "I've got four people, right here, just as powerful as I am! You've no chance! Here we go!"

All five super-powered heroes zoomed forward, Sonic and Mario taking the lead. Sonic boosted straight through the core, just as Mario slammed in with a fiery punch. Knuckles spun like a drill as he met it, flames encasing his own fists. Luigi and Tails came down last, in a thunder-powered combination attack.

The shaking of the world stopped, as Solaris burst into a million pieces, condensing into a tiny flame. Mario grabbed it with his Firebrand, and flew down with his teammates back to their friends.

The Chaos Emeralds re-appeared, dropping to the ground once more, but this time, full of their power, as the five returned to normal, Mario still holding the flame.

"You've impressed me, once again," Shadow said. "… Just who are you, Mario?"

"Just someone who helps because he can," Mario said.

"Same as me, eh?" Sonic asked, giving a little laugh.

"… So, what now?" Peach asked. "Solaris is… Just that little flame now…"

"Just as he was before," Elise said. "Everything began just as this… Who knew, such a tiny flame could bring such devastation. It's part of all timelines… if we blow it out… Solaris would never have existed… And we wouldn't need to worry about the Flames of Disaster. But… All of our adventures together… Is it what we really want?"

"… You can't have the good without the bad," Mario said. "… It's something I've learned, over the years. In a case of our personal feelings against what's best for the world…"

"… That's not really any choice to make, is it?" Sonic asked. He turned to Mario. "Well, if that's how it's gonna be, let me just say, it's been great while it lasted."

"It has," Mario said, staring at the tiny flame in his hand.

"… I'd like to think I'll miss you," Tails said to Luigi. "But…"

"Tails," Luigi said, putting his hand on the fox's shoulder. "I know… It's been great, these past few days. I…" Luigi closed his eyes. "… I'd miss you too, Tails."

Elise looked down sadly. Peach turned to her. "Cheer up, Elise. Think of all the good that'll come of this."

Elise nodded. "You're right… It will be better, won't it? I… I'm ready, as much as I can be."

"I guess I am too," Luigi said sadly.

"But there's no other way…" Tails said.

"Yeah…" Sonic said, eyes downcast. "It's not… It's not so good, not really. I mean, you guys are great. It's the first time I've really met another big-shot hero who saves another part of the planet."

"It's a first for me, too," Mario said. "But… You know what? I don't think this is really goodbye. I think… We'd have met each other sooner or later, anyway. We both travel and help people. So… It's not the end. I think, it's a new beginning. See you later, Sonic." Mario closed his hand, snuffing out the flame of Solaris once and for all.


	26. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

* * *

"Gotta say, that was a sweet display last night," Sonic said, as he walked down the beach with Tails and Knuckles.

"I'll admit, it was kind of fun," Knuckles said. "I don't really get that sort of thing on Angel Island."

"Worth letting the Chaotix guard the Master Emerald, then?"

"… I'm probably going to come home to Rouge and Eggman fighting over it. Again," Knuckles sighed. "But it was nice spending time with you two."

"Thanks, Knuckles!" Tails said, smiling. "But… Does anyone else feel like we missed something?"

"Nah," Sonic said. "And if Egghead does attack? We'll just get him again. But, honestly, I'm glad for the break, with the alternate dimension and Shadow's… Crazy… I don't even know what happened on that little adventure."

"Yeah," Tails agreed. "It's nice. But still… I still get the feeling something happened."

A hundred or so feet down the beach, a pair of twin brothers was walking in the opposite direction.

"You'd think Bowser would've attacked by now," Luigi said.

"Oh, yeah, for sure," Mario agreed. "But it'd be really nice to have a vacation where he doesn't, yeah?"

"Yeah… I've just got this feeling."

"I know, bro," Mario said.

The two groups met each other as they walked, neither really recognizing the other, but feeling like they should.

"Hello," Mario said, walking forward to the blue hedgehog. "Nice day, huh?"

"Oh yeah," Sonic replied. "It's great. Shining sun, plenty of room to run, no killer robots trying to take over the world…"

"Lots of great places to jump around, climb to the top… No evil armies or anything…" Mario said, wistfully.

"Heh, seems we've both got kind of weird lives, then," Sonic said. He held out his hand to shake. "I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog. I'm a guy who loves adventure."

"Mario's the name, and adventure's my game," Mario said, shaking Sonic's hand. "Sounds like you've got your fair share of stories. I'm not doing anything, and I've always been curious about other heroes. Mind telling me a few?"

"Only if you guys tell me some!" Sonic said, laughing. "Hey, guys, introduce yourselves."

"I'm Knuckles the Echidna," Knuckles said, shaking Mario's hand. "As long as you don't try and steal anything from me, we should be fine."

"Luigi, that's me," Luigi said, waving to the new group.

"I'm Tails," Tails said. "Sonic's my big bro! Kind of. It's a long story."

Mario smiled. "Well, we've got all day. As long as Bowser doesn't attack. Again."

"Sounds like Egghead," Sonic said, laughing. "You guys sound like my kind of people!"

"Thank you," Mario said. "It's always nice to make new friends."

**THE END**

* * *

_Final Words_

_So, that's it. The story I've been writing for a month and a half is over. I'd been planning for it to end this way for a long time, even if the epilogue was kind of short. Here, I'm going to try and explain some things that may not have been clear in the story proper._

_Wario_

_Probably the biggest thing is what Wario's doing, and why he's doing it. In the beginning, Wario just wanted a Chaos Emerald to see if he could use it, and use it to get away after stealing things. He did know that both Mario and Bowser were around, and used that as an excuse. He figured that a Star Child would probably be able to use Chaos Emeralds, and was right. He wanted to ask Shadow how to use Chaos Control, without Shadow really knowing he was asking. He got that, and bailed when Mephiles showed up. He actually stuck around to watch from high up where no one could see him, and decided that he had to do something about it. Whenever something was going down, you could be sure Wario was there to spy on it. After seeing Silver battle Mario and Sonic, he followed them to Eggman's base in secret, figured out why Silver did what he did, and set out to get Daisy to befriend Silver. He brought DK because DK is also a Star Child, and Wario figured it'd be good to have him around if something went south. The robot-destroying thing was just a distraction for DK to keep him around._

_Star Children_

_Part of the "mythology", I suppose, of the Mario universe. They're only mentioned in Yoshi's Island DS. In canon, their significance is unknown, apart from that they have extraordinary power. The seven Star Children are Mario, Luigi, Wario, Peach, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, and Bowser. Wario's the only one who knew all seven of them, while Peach being one was fairly common knowledge, and Eggman figured out Bowser, Mario, and Luigi. Wario said they were people with the ability to manipulate and generate energy, which, as far as this story goes, is true, but not the whole story. They are, basically, stars themselves, who exist because the world needs them._

_Chaos Mario_

_Or, that thing that happened when Mario was fighting Iblis, and absorbed ALL of the power in the Chaos Emerald at once. This isn't because he's a Star Child he was able to do this, not entirely. It's because of Mario's natural affinity with powering himself up. What he did was use the Chaos Emerald as though it was a power-up. This infused his flames with Chaos Energy, allowing them to consume Iblis into themselves. When they dissipated, Iblis did along with them, though it didn't matter in the end because Mephiles just got past Iblis._

_Super Tails_

_In Sonic 3 &amp; Knuckles, Tails only goes Super with the Super Emeralds. However, that was originally Hyper Tails. The original design for Super Tails finally appears in 2013 – In the iOS remake of Sonic the Hedgehog. The 'Super Shields', in Sonic Heroes, in addition, are implied to actually be Super Tails and Super Knuckles' modern designs. Also, in Tails' Adventure, Tails displays the ability to make himself stronger with the Chaos Emeralds, but only collects six, and so does not go Super. That's really all there is to this one._

_This story… Man, it's been fun, and fast. I haven't felt this GOOD about writing something in a long time. Even if it's based on one of the worst Sonic games, I hope the changes I made did the story some good. Even if it didn't, I still had fun writing this, and that's what matters._

_Whew. That's a long author's note. So, anyway…_

'_Til next time, keep on running and jumping._

_~jakeroo123_


End file.
